The Choice
by Frosy
Summary: Clary lived a happy life, or that's what she thought, until he came. Now she is between choosing the man she loved for years or the man she just met. Is she strong enough to make the right choice?
1. Preface

**The Choice**

Chapter 1

_**Preface **_

I never thought that I would need to make a choice, but I did.

I had made my choice and there was no going back. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't do that to him. Not after the things I had put him through.

I looked in the mirror and saw myself in a beautiful wedding gown. It was a white strapless dress, simple and elegant. It wasn't me but at this point of my life I didn't care about my dress.

I cared if the man waiting on the other side to marry me, was the right one. The one I truly loved. My heart though didn't seem to know. It was torn in half, and each piece of it was given to these two wonderful men.

I peeked through the slightly open door. I found him standing there with his black tuxedo smiling nervously as he eagerly waited for me. Next to him was the reason that made me have doubts about this wedding. His face was a mask of sadness.

I looked both of them trying to memorize the moment and the feeling. If I was to back away, I would do it now.


	2. First meeting

**The Choice**

Chapter 2

_**First meeting**_

The club was as always crowded. We were sitting on one of the booths, at the very end of the club. People were dancing and drinking, colourful lights were covering their bodies as they danced. It was in a club where I first met him.

_I was at the bar waiting for Isabelle. She was supposed to meet me one hour ago and she still hadn't showed up. I was ready to leave when someone sat beside me. I turned to look at the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. His eyes had the ocean's blue color. They were magical. We looked at each other for a while, before he spoke. _

"_Hi," he said to me with a shy smile. _

"_Hi," I said back._

"_I noticed that you were sitting by yourself and I couldn't help myself from asking."_

"_Well, a friend just stood me up, and I was just about to leave." _

"_What a coincident! My friend stood me up too," he said and looked around. "And I am sure he isn't here yet." He turned at me, "So what do you say? Do you want to join me while we are waiting for them?" _

"_Sure, and I am Clary by the way." I said and gave him my hand._

"_Alec." He said and took my hand._

"Earth to Clary!" someone called from beside. I turned to see Isabelle and Aline looking at me with wide eyes before bursting into laughter.

"Having second thoughts?" Aline asked me, trying to be serious. Isabelle just laughed even more.

"She? Second thoughts? I don't think so." Isabelle told her.

"You are both drunk aren't you?" I said to them. "And to answer your question I am not having second thoughts. I was just remembering something."

"About your dress?" Aline asked me. "Oh, don't worry Clary. Tomorrow, we will go and help you pick a dress. It won't be that difficult."

"Relax Aline. She just got proposed. She doesn't have to hurry or anything. If I were her I would take advantage of my last moments as a bachelor." She said and winked at me. "You know Clary there are some cute guys out here tonight."

"You know that I would never do that to Alec."

"Yeah yeah, we know. It's the only thing you are talking about, since he proposed."

"And what a proposal! I wish my proposal was like that." Aline putted.

"I liked that Sebastian asked you in private and not in a crowded restaurant." I said to her. "I don't like being in public for those kind of things."

"Yeah, but look at that ring!" Isabelle said and grabbed my hand. "I mean it's huge and gorgeous. If Simon ever proposed to me, that kind of ring I would want." Both I and Aline looked at her with wide eyes.

"What?" Isabelle tried to defend herself.

"You always said you would never get married." Aline said to her.

"I didn't say that I would get married with Simon. But if he brought me this ring I wouldn't say no." She said and dropped her eyes to her drink.

I knew that the reason wouldn't be a ring to marry him. She was deep in love with him, although she tried to hide it. I knew it and Simon being my best friend helped a little.

"Ok, why don't we get to the dance floor? And in the meanwhile I will go get us more drinks." I said to them trying to break the awkward moment.

They agreed and I headed at the bar. We definitely didn't need any more alcohol but today was my birthday and they insisted that we should go out and get drunk. Aline definitely needed time for her. Being a full mom and having to manage her own cloth store, was a lot.

I reached the bar and ordered the drinks. While I was waiting there someone came and whispered to me.

"Can I buy you a drink?" A voice said next to me. I turned around to see a blonde guy watching me with curious eyes.

"No, thanks. I already had enough."

"That's too bad. It was my cue so I could speak to you." He said faking a smile.

"You know that you are already speaking to me, right?"

"Yeah, but as soon as your drinks are ready you are going to leave. And I won't have a beautiful woman to talk to with." He said flashing a smile that took my breath away.

"Well I am sure my friends won't mind if you stole me away for a while." I said thinking of what Isabelle had said. He smiled and nodded.

"I bet."

I wasn't going to do anything with him, but I could at least flirt a little before I got married. Enjoy my last bachelor moments.

I took the drinks and went back to our table. The girls had find partners and were now dancing. I looked at the bar and the blonde guy was looking and smiling at me. He was gorgeous.

I didn't know why but I took my engagement ring off. I didn't want to lose the ring so I putted it in my purse.

He wasn't looking me now as I approached him and I let my eyes rest on him. He was tall with a nice lean body. He was wearing black and the contrast with his golden skin was breathtaking. I didn't know why but I instantly wanted to run my fingers across his skin. I was holding my drink and it was empty before I reached him.

"My friends are too busy to notice me." I said to him as he placed a drink in front of me.

"Lucky me," he said giving me a crooked smile. He was so sexy with his grin smile, but I didn't want to think of that. I had Alec.

We kept talking for a long time and in the meanwhile I kept drinking more and more. The room started spinning and I felt stupid for even considering flirting with this guy.

I looked around me, wondering where the girls are. I hoped they would come and take me home.

The guy, whom I didn't know the name, was still talking to me. I wasn't paying much attention when Isabelle came into my view.

"There you are! I was looking all over the place for you! Aline has already left and I..." She trailed when she noticed my company.

"I am fine as you can see," I told her. She didn't know if she should leave or take me out. She didn't expect me to actually considerate her proposal.

I nodded at her and she took the hint that I needed to be out. Not that the guy wasn't good enough, but I wasn't in the mood and being drunk didn't help. Besides I wasn't looking for a boyfriend. I already had one, and I was going to marry him.

An unpleasant feeling overwhelmed me when I thought myself married to Alec. I shook it away.

"So I was wondering if you are ready to go..." Isabelle knowing that I needed to be out.

"Yeah, I will meet you out." I said to her surprised face. She nodded and headed out.

"So, I have to go." I told him trying to sound sad.

"Will I see you again?" He asked hoping I would say yes.

"Maybe." I said and started to get my things.

"Can I have your number?" he asked me. I didn't want to give him any false hopes that he will see me again so I simply stated,

"If it's meant to be, we will meet again." And with that I left the bar.


	3. Stranger

**Hi guys sorry for taking so long to update :(**  
**Good news I got a Beta for this story!!!! Thank you _burning (.) x (.) impossibly (.) x (.) bright_!!!!!!!!!!! (sorry had to write it this way cause it didn't show up)**

**Enjoy!!!!!**

* * *

**The Choice**

Chapter 3

_**Stranger  
**_

The next day I woke up with a terrible headache. I had drunk too much. I usually didn't drink, but the girls had insisted since yesterday was my birthday.

I was officially 28.

I was the last one of the girls to turn 28. Even though I was born in the same year as Isabelle, she still complained that I was the youngest. It was insane, since Isabelle and I had only a month's difference in age, and Aline was two years older than we were.

I tried to move my body and I felt my clothing stretching underneath me as I pulled myself up. I was wearing last night's clothes and by the marks on my pillow, I was sure I had still been wearing my make up too.

As I went to the bathroom and tried carefully to not wake up Alec, a hand pulled me down on the bed.

"Where do you think you're going?" Alec said still half asleep, his black hair a mess.

"I have to change my clothes," I said and tried to get up but his strong hands didn't let me.

"Don't change. Let's just relax together," he said and pulled me closer.

"Well can that wait?"

"Nope," he said popping the 'p' and added, "Besides we didn't have the chance to spend your birthday together and I want to make up for that."

"I know but Isabelle had...."

"Isabelle is...." he paused to think, "let me put it this way. I wouldn't like to be against her. Sometimes I wonder how Simon handles her."

"Well Simon isn't afraid of her. Haven't you heard that 'dogs who burg, doesn't bite'?" He laughed with my comment.

"Now can I have my shower?" I looked at him.

"Only if you give me a kiss," he said with a smirk on his face.

"I thought you would never ask," I said and placed a kiss on his lips.

The rest of the day found me unpacking. I had moved in with Alec a month ago and I still had stuff that needed to be placed in their right places.

The boxes of my stuff were taking up space in the hallway right now, making the trip from our bedroom to the kitchen impossible, but Alec never said anything.

His facial expression did though, so seeing as I had my day off I decided that this was the day to get everything unpacked. He would come home and hopefully I wouldn't need to see that face again.

I poured myself a cup of coffee and got to work.

After unpacking 15 boxes, my stomach started to complain. I went to the kitchen to find something to eat but I hadn't gone to the grocery shop, so there wasn't anything to eat.

I picked up my keys and went outside. I was on my way to the grocery shop when my cell phone rang. It was Isabelle.

"Hey," I said to her.

"Hey, girl. Where are you? Want to meet us at the usual spot? Aline and I are heading there for lunch."

"Sure. I was actually on my way to pick up some groceries, but I'm too hungry to cook. I'll meet you in a bit," I said to her and closed my phone.

It was a nice opportunity to tell them the date of the wedding.

Alec and I had very different opinions when it came to details about the wedding. He wanted something simple and comfortable and for it during the winter. Whereas I wanted my wedding to be during the summer, barefoot on the beach exchanging our vows as the sun sets.

The funny thing was that whenever I thought about that, I never pictured Alec in it. I couldn't. I could easily see myself walking on the beach but not Alec. I guess it wasn't him.

We had been discussing and arguing about it for two weeks, ever since the day he proposed. I wanted it to be soon. I didn't like the idea of having to wait a whole year to get married.

This morning we had finally managed to decide on a date that would satisfy both of us.

April 27th

I parked my car outside the cafe we usually go to and went inside to find them already waiting for me.

"No, I am telling you the dress was beautiful but on her... I don't even want to imagine it. It was terrible," Aline was saying to Isabelle as I sat next to her.

"Hi, guys. Did you order?"

"Yeah, we ordered for you too." Isabelle said and went back to her conversation with Aline about a dress that apparently was beautiful but on one of Aline's customers was terrible.

I needed their attention.

"April 27th," I said determined to get their attention.

"What?" Aline turned to me.

"The date," I said playing with them.

"For what?"

"My w....." I started to say and Isabelle interrupted me finishing my word.

"Wedding, your wedding!" she said and both her and Aline started screaming happily and hugged me. I joined them. I was too happy not to.

The whole place was looking at us wondering why we were shouting.

I didn't care.

"April 27th. Wow, that's in 3 months," Isabelle said and Aline joined her.

"Yeah, and there are so many things to do. I was preparing a year before and I just made it on time. How are you going to manage that?" Aline asked me. "Do you have any idea of how your wedding is going to be?"

"Well...." I had never thought about the details before. I had thought about my wedding before but the wedding that I was picturing in my head was simple with a few guests, just my future husband and me; nothing fancy or anything like that. Just us on the beach. You didn't need anything else.

"Well... no," I said to them and they looked at me as if I had committed a serious crime.

"But Clary! The time is ticking. You have to..."

"Don't get her more nervous than she is Aline," Isabelle said to her and turned to me. "We'll help you with anything you need Clary," Isabelle said and took hold of my hands. "Just name it."

"Good, because I need your help with something," they both looked eagerly at me, waiting to find out what it was.

"I need a maid of honour and both of you are very close to me, but I can't pick one of you over the other, so I'm giving you that pleasure," they just looked at me, "And when you decide please let me know," I said and attacked my taco salad that had just arrived.

They looked at each other for a silent moment and then started bickering about who it should be. If it was possible I would have made both of them my maid of honour.

I had three months until the wedding and I had never considered that I wouldn't get my beach wedding, that I so wanted. I was so preoccupied with the moving and my job that I hadn't thought that there was a possibility for me not to get my dream wedding.

Now I had only three months to figure out what I wanted; things other women probably knew years before they got married.

"I think it's my turn," Aline said crossing her hands in front of her chest. Isabelle glared at her, "You were my maid of honour so I think it's my time to be."

"What? I was only your maid of honour because Clary didn't want to!"

"So?"

"I've known Clary since we were little kids. I think I deserve the right to be her maid of honour more that you do. You've only known her since college."

I rolled my eyes at them and went back to my food. I got a glimpse of something familiar as I turned my head. There was a blonde guy sitting two tables away from us. I was sure I didn't know him but he was strangely familiar as if did.

I took a closer look at him. He was wearing jeans and a white polo making his dirty blonde hair gleam.

I kept staring when it was like he sensed me watching. He raised his head and looked straight into my eyes. I blushed and I tried to tear my eyes away but he held onto my gaze.

I could see his golden eyes radiating as the sun covered him. I felt a building force, burning my insides; something I had a lot time to experience.

Those eyes were so familiar; if only I could remember where I had seen them before.

"Clary? Earth to Clary!"

"What?" I said to Aline, unwillingly breaking my gaze with the mysterious stranger.

"I said we're going to leave. Are you coming or staying?"

"What already? We just got here," I said to them and looked at the time. We'd already been there for 40 minutes.

"No, that was like an hour ago," Isabelle said and Aline started to correct her.

"Anyway," Isabelle said while rolling her eyes at Aline, "we have to go back to work, so are you coming or staying?"

I looked to see if the blonde guy was still there. He wasn't, and I felt a little disappointed.

"Yeah, I think I'll stay," I said to them. We hugged and arranged to meet tomorrow at Isabelle's apartment to discuss wedding details.

I was so lucky to have Isabelle and Aline. They would be a great help for the wedding.

I turned to finish my salad but it didn't look tasty anymore, so I left it and ordered a coffee. I would need it if I was going to finish unpacking. I had three more boxes to go and it was more kitchen stuff.

I closed my eyes and felt the chair next to me move. I opened them to find the blonde guy sitting in Isabelle's chair.

"Hi Clary," he said to me.

Wow, this guy knew my name. I hadn't met him before and I was sure I hadn't given him my name.

"Sorry, do I know you?" I said trying to be polite. He laughed.

"You forgot me already? I thought I made a good impression."

I just kept looking him with a wary expression. He must have realised that I probably didn't remember meeting him; if that happened, and he rushed to explain.

"Don't you remember the club? Yesterday? We had a drink and talked a little before you busted out of there and left me alone. Doesn't any of that ring a bell?"

"Em... no, I don't think so," I said and tried to remember what I was doing yesterday at the club.

I remember being with the girls. I remember the lights, the voices, and the loud music. We were sitting at one of the white booths when I decided to bring more drinks.

I went to the bar and then my memory was blurry. I remember laughing and talking to someone.

I tried to remember harder and then it hit me. It was the blonde guy in front of me.

"Yeah, I remember you. I was drunk and I can't remember much though."

"I knew you wouldn't have forgotten me," He smiled at me flashing his teeth.

"So... having lunch with friends?" he asked me trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, this is our usual spot."

"Really? I just discovered this one. It's so small that you can miss it if you don't pay attention."

"I know that's why I like it. It's small and friendly," I looked admiringly around the shop, taking my time.

I could feel his gaze on me making me blush.

"Do you have to get back to work?" he said sensing my awkwardness.

"No, I have the day off," I didn't know why I said that. I could easily say yes and get out of there, but something kept me there, "What about you? Don't you have a job to get back to?" I said hoping he would be the one to go, not that I even minded him staying.

"No. The good thing about photography. There are no planed hours."

"You're a photographer?" I said surprised. He didn't look like one. If he had told me that he worked in that area, I would say he was a model rather than the photographer.

"What kind of photos do you take? Famous people I'm guessing," I said and saw a small smile on his face.

"Well yeah but mostly fashion stuff," I raised my eyebrows at him.

"I just do it for the money. They pay well."

"And I'm sensing that's not what you want to be doing," he looked at me with curiosity once again in his eyes.

"Well yeah. I like taking landscape pictures and pictures of everyday people. Nothing set up, nothing fancy; just the natural order of things."

"I wish you luck. I'm sure you'll achieve that one day," I smiled at him.

"What do you do for a living?" he said returning the topic to me.

His job sounded so interesting that I felt bad about mine.

"I work as an insurance counsellor."

"Mmm... it sounds... interesting."

"No, it's not. It's boring like hell," at that we both burst into laughs.

"Yeah, you're probably right," he said taking a break from all that laughing. I kept smiling at him.

I looked at my watch. I had to go if I wanted to go to the market and make dinner for Alec.

"I have to go. I have shopping to do before I head home," I said and gathered my things to leave.

"Yeah, I have some things too. I definitely want to meet again. I want to learn so much about being an insurance counsellor. I may change my career," he said mocking me. I smiled at him and gave him my number.

I shouldn't have but I really felt like doing it. He was good company. It wouldn't hurt to hang out with him between the craziness that will follow with wedding preparations. Would it?

I took his number and entered it into my cell phone but when the name input came up I didn't know what to put.

"Sorry for asking but what's your name?" I said to him. He looked at me and extended his hand to me. I took it.

"Jace. Nice to meet you Clary."


	4. Bridesmaids

Author: Frosy  
Beta: burning(.)x(.)impossibly(.)x(.)bright

* * *

**The Choice**

Chapter 4

_**Bridesmaids**_

The next few days passed with a lot of shopping. The girls were very helpful and I would have gone crazy without them. So many details that in the end no one would remember.

I just wanted to get married and only that mattered.

"What do you think about this one?" I said to Alec in a last attempt to make him at least consider the green linens.

"Clary we are not going to have green linens. We need something more serious. My boss is going to be there and a lot of my colleagues.

"What do you suggest? That black one? This is a wedding not a funeral!"I said frustrated to him.

"I need to impress them if I want to get that big case."

"What big case? It's another divorce."

"No, this case I am talking about is a case of murder."

"Oh my! Don't tell me you are serious about this?"

"Of course I am! I want this case so bad. And if I want to get this I need to impress my boss."

"Isn't the wedding in three months?" I asked him.

"Yeah," he said and went back on the brochure to write down the order for the linens.

"But this case is happening now."

"I know but I am helping a lot. I may not be in charge of it, but I help. And I want to do everything that I can to get him to see me with a good eye and give me cases like this one. I don't want to stay in divorces." I sighed.

I got up and went to the spare room.

It was my personal room. I had painted the walls a light green colour that made the room look bigger. I had my desk where I could paint, a small bookshelf with Alec's books and next to the window I had my keyboard. I ran my fingers along it and sighed. I hadn't played for 2 years.

I hadn't realised that it was such a long time since the last time I played.

I sat down and placed my fingers softly on the keys.

"So you decided to start playing?" he said and came closer and hugged me from the back.

"No, I am just standing here," I said and he came from behind me placing a kiss on my cheek and holding me.

"You know I think the green linens are formal enough. If that's what you want then I'm fine with it."

"Really?" I said and slightly turned my head towards him.

He nodded. "I know that I'm a bit crazy over my job and I don't want that to affect our wedding. You can always put me back on track if I get paranoid, right?" he laughed it off.

I stand up and hugged him. "Thank you." I whispered in his ear and kissed him running my hands through his messy black hair. He kissed me back deepening the kiss. I felt my body tingle as he ran his fingers down my back and rested them on my hips.

I broke off gasping for air, "You know the girls will be here in any minute."

"I don't care," he said and kissed me more, "they can wait." I laughed as he got me in his hands, and took me to the bedroom.

* * *

With Isabelle and Aline we had decided that afternoon to look for our dresses.

They had been arguing all the way to the shop for the bridesmaid dresses.

"It should be green, to match her eyes." Aline said to Isabelle.

"No they should be red to match her hair." Isabelle and I rolled my eyes.

"Girls! Can you stop it? We are almost there," I said as I turned left on the road and found a spot near the shop.

We entered the shop and an old lady came to greet us.

"Hello, how can I help you?" she asked politely.

"We are here to find..." I begun but Isabelle interrupted me.

"She's getting married!" she almost yelled at her.

"Congratulations!" she said to me, "so you're looking for the perfect dress. Ladies follow me." she said and we followed her inside the store.

As the time passed I tried on many dresses but I didn't like any of them. We decided to come back to look again for my dress, so we went through the bridesmaid dresses.

"I love this one!" Isabelle said from behind the curtain.

"Then come out so I can see you," I said sitting patiently on the sofa.

Both Aline and Isabelle had been through many dresses but they couldn't seem to make up their minds.

"I found one! It's gorgeous!" Aline yelled from the next curtain.

"Will you both come out now? I want to see them."

Aline stepped out and I was pleased. She had picked something simple and elegant. It was a one shoulder dress with a sweetheart neckline and it came to her knees. It was turquoise and there were crystals over the neckline. I loved it. It was perfect for Aline and her small body.

"I'm coming." Isabelle said and I took a deep breath. Knowing Isabelle's taste in clothing I hoped this piece was at least decent.

She slowly stepped out trying to make a dramatic entrance but her foot got caught between the curtain's layers and she almost fell.

Both I and Aline burst out laughing. Even the saleswoman tried to hide her laugh.

"That's not funny" Isabelle said and stood in front of the mirror to take a better look at the dress.

I stopped laughing and took a better look of the dress. I was relived. If I loved Aline's dress, I envied this one. It was a long red dress with thin stripes that went around her neck. It was tight around her waist with small white crystals and the rest of it flow around her hips down to the floor.

"Wow, Isabelle you are... gorgeous. This dress is..."

Aline interrupted, "beautiful. Do you have this dress in my size?" Aline turned to the lady pointing at Isabelle's dress.

The old lady dragged Aline to the next room to find the dress.

"I think we found your dress." I said coming closer to her.

"You think? I like it but it seems... I don't know, too much? I now you want a really simple wedding and this isn't the definition of simple, not yours at least because..."

"Because according to you this is simple. I know Isabelle but since Alec is doing the most picking in things for the wedding, I don't expect it to be simple." She smiled and gave me a hug.

Aline stepped into the room with the same dress. She came and stood next to Isabelle.

"I love it." Aline said making swirls around herself like a little girl. "Where did you find it? I didn't see any red dresses around."

Isabelle smirked, "I told you that we were getting red dresses," Aline's face darkened for a second only before turning to me.

"I still suggest going with the green but if you like them, then I'm fine. Besides I love it!" she looking at herself once more in the mirror.

They both then turned to me expecting me to say something about the dresses. I smiled.

"I think we found your dresses girls." They hugged me and I felt so good to be around my best friends.

On the way back Isabelle informed us of a photography exhibition that would be held tomorrow night by the gallery she worked at. She wanted us to come, she already had two free tickets and she was saving them for us.

"Oh, come on. I don't want to be alone. You know how much I hate those landscapes photos and Simon has a soccer game, not that he would come, but you Clary? You like these things."

"I don't know Isabelle. I was thinking of going with him to the soccer game but if I don't, I have so many things to do. The wedding is in 10 weeks. I have the invitations to finish and I only have till the end of the week. There are 200!" I said feeling tired just by thinking of the work I had to do.

"Oh, come on. I'll make Simon help you. He owes me for the... anyway he will help you since you got his place for tomorrow."

I thought of that for a while. Me and Simon. I thought of torturing him with all the wedding details that I knew he hated and I almost laughed.

"Fine. But I am going to his place. Tell him to expect me around 6." Isabelle smiled pleased. "Oh, and Isabelle?"

"Yes?"

"You're coming too."

"B-But..."

"You asked for it." She didn't say anything and turned to Aline.

"I can't come. Magnus wants to see his daddy playing." Aline said to Isabelle.

"How is little Magnus?" I asked her as I approached her house.

"Oh, he's fine. He can't wait for his birthday. Sebastian thought we should get him one of those little cars, you know, that kids drive but after yesterday..."

"What happened?" Isabelle joined in.

"He found him in my closet trying on his shoes and muttering about how he doesn't have any taste in shoes." Isabelle and I couldn't stop laughing, "It really freaked him out. That's why he wants me to bring him to the game.

"Oh, he's so cute!" Isabelle squealed.

"Yeah, tell that to Sebastian. Anyways see you girls."

We said goodbye and promised to meet soon to go out for drinks.

The sun was almost down as I drove through the roads to get Isabelle home. Thankfully Isabelle's apartment was two blocks away from ours and I wouldn't be late for supper.

"Now I have one ticket left. What am I supposed to do with it?"

"Give it to someone, it's not that hard." She narrowed her eyes towards me and I pretended I didn't see her, paying attention to the road.

She sighed, "I hope there are some good guys there."

"You know Simon won't be happy if he knows you go flirting with other men."

"Oh, I don't care. If he wanted to, he could come to make sure it won't happen. He deserves it."

"Did something happen between you two? Whenever you talk about Simon you sound..."

"Nothing is wrong," she snapped and I dropped the subject.

* * *

I arrived home to find it crowded with people. I had forgotten that the guys would be gathering to watch a soccer game.

I took in the scene I had in front of me. There were boxes of pizza and cans of beers all over the place. In the kitchen, in the living room I even found out later in the night that there were some in the bathroom. I didn't want to think about how those got there.

"You're back!" Alec said coming to kiss me and I turned away from him.

"You smell awful! I'm not kissing you if you don't have a bath." The guys from the living room laughed.

"Someone won't have his way tonight." Sebastian said holding a very sleepy Magnus in his arms.

"Sebastian, Magnus is already asleep. If Aline finds out that you had beer in front of him..."

"It's good for his education. He must learn how to be a proper man from this early age."

"How to be a drunk and smelly man? Not to mention a fat one after a little while. You know being a little less man won't hurt him." I said messing with him. His face darkened and he looked at Magnus.

"We're happy to see you too, Clary." Simon said with a smirk on his face.

I gave him a hug and sat down. I wanted to tell him about the deal I made with Isabelle but I thought Isabelle was the right person to deliver the news.

I began to clean the place up when the game ended. I said goodbye and kissed Magnus' little cheek. He was sleeping peacefully. He had his dad's black hair and the eyes of his mother. He would look at you with those brown eyes, and you would feel like they were seeing inside of you.

"Goodnight Clary," Simon said tiredly, "and sorry about the mess." He smiled apologetically.

"It's fine. I have someone to blame it on." I said and looked at Alec, who luckily, for him anyways, had started cleaning up.

I closed the door and turned to find Alec pinning me against the door and running his hands on my body.

"You know, you really look sexy tonight." He said giving me small kisses on my neck. I looked down at what I was wearing. I was wearing a pair of jeans and plain white t-shirt.

"You're drunk." I said as he kept kissing me, making it harder to focus.

I felt his smile forming on my neck and his hands kept traveling around my body.

He started placing more fierce kisses on my neck and collarbone as he tried to get my shirt off. I took his face in my hands and kissed him. I had forgotten all about the smell from the moment he had placed his fingers on me.

The next morning I woke up to find a very clean apartment. I found Alec wearing just his boxers in the kitchen making breakfast.

"You did this?" I said and looked again in the living room. The place was shining.

"Hmm..." he said and I went closer to him, smelling the aroma that was coming from the eggs.

Alec really knew how to cook. I knew how to cook, but Alec was a chef compared to me. Too bad that he didn't have time to cook.

I inhaled that sweet smell and gave him a peck kiss.

"Isabelle called," he said as he placed the eggs on our plates, "she wanted to know what time to come pick you up for tonight."

I grabbed the orange juice and poured some into our glasses. "I thought she was going to be there before the gallery opened." I sat down joining him.

The food was... mouth-watering.

"Oh yeah, she said she wasn't needed after all and something else about a ticket..." he ran his fingers through his messy black hair, "I'm not quite sure, I 'd just woken up when she called."

Alec wasn't a morning person and like me, he had probably forgotten some of the things from Isabelle's morning announcement, so I made a mental note to call her to find out what exactly was going on.

The rest of the day found us watching TV and generally enjoying ourselves before Isabelle called and interrupted.

We were lying on the sofa watching a comedy show when she called.

"Why didn't you call me?" Isabelle yelled in my ears.

"I was just about to call you." I said lying to her of course. I had totally forgotten about her.

"Anyway, I called to tell you that I will unfortunately be needed before the exhibition opens and wanted to make sure you have your ticket."

"I have it. You gave it to me yesterday."

"Good, then see you at 7 sharp."

"Oh, Isabelle? What did you do with that extra ticket? Did you find anyone to give it to?"

"Yeah, I gave it to my neighbour. She is such a bitch."

"Then why did you give it to her?"

"So I can get a break from her. Don't get me started. Anyway see you there. I'm going to need you with her there."

"By the way, so I can be prepared. Whose photographs are we going to see?"

"Valentine Morgenstern. He's the major attention but there's a new guy too. He'll have a small portion for his photos. I think he's a beginner; I don't know and don't care. I just hope he's hot and not gay. His name is Jace Herondale." She said and hung up the phone, but not before reminding me when the gallery opened.

I wondered if she was talking about the Jace I met the other day.


	5. Friends

Author: Frosy  
Beta: burning(.)x(.)impossibly(.)x(.)bright

* * *

**The Choice**

Chapter 5

_**Friends**_

I arrived at the gallery later than I was supposed to and I quickly blended into the crowd, and pretended I was there from the beginning when Isabelle spotted me.

"Isn't it boring?" she sighed, "Where were you? I was looking for you for at least half an hour."

"I… was around. I wanted to take my time." I said looking around taking in the room I had before me.

"Well take your time and I will get back at you." She said and took off, murmuring about the task she had to do.

I looked around me. Everyone was dressed in formal clothing and I was glad I had picked my little black dress to wear.

There were a lot of people talking and admiring the exhibits but it was too crowded and it was making my transition from one exhibit to the other hard.

I looked at the pictures and saw wonderful landscapes from all over Europe. There were mostly mountains during the sunrise. The sun was making the mountains colorful and it filled them with life as the morning rose before them.

Most of the pictures I passed were similar as went through them, when I noticed a section at the far end of the room. There were pictures there, but they were a little different.

I couldn't point out the difference, but there was something about them. It was like when you saw a vivid painting. The pictures were talking to me, trying to tell me something about the scene I was watching. Tell me a story. One in particular got stuck with me. It was a picture of an old woman holding her grandchild smiling and playing with him.

The photographer had captured the feeling of this moment that actually made you think you were watching the scene right now.

I looked around me amazed by the photographs. Amazed by the moments that were captured here, alive, breathing through a piece of glass.

"You like them?" A velvet voice sounded from behind me and I turned to see Jace standing there with his bright eyes on me.

"Yeah, they are….." I laughed, "I don't have words. The photographer should take more credit I think." I said as I looked around me. Everyone was occupied by Valentine's photographs, while the real artist was here.

He smiled, "I don't know about that, but thank you."

I opened my mouth to ask him why he was thanking me, for but then it came to me. The name of the photographer was Jace Herondale.

"You're the photographer!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, I am." He said coming closer and the light hit his face making him brighter. He was wearing dark pants and a white shirt making his muscles noticeable and I could see a pair of black markings on his body, tracing his chest and arm.

"I wasn't expecting to find you here." He said to me.

"Well I enjoy good pictures but I came mainly because of my friend Isabelle. She works here and she kind of dragged me to come."

"I have to thank her." He said smiling once more, "So what's your favorite so far?"

I let my mind think of the pictures I had been through. The landscape pictures hadn't really thrilled me but his did and I knew which one.

"That one." I said pointing to the old lady holding a child in her hands.

"That's my favorite too," he said and nodded looking at the picture.

"I thought you didn't have the courage to go after it after all."

"I'm not. It just happened. Valentine was the one to introduce me into this world. He started with this kind of photography before he turned to landscaping, although he tries to get me onto his side, he helped me. This is the toughest you can get yourself into," he shrugged, "Anyway I had a bunch of pictures hanging around and he thought I should bring them here." He eyes travelled through his pictures with a mixture of pride and self-consciousness on his face.

"And I thought celebrities were the toughest with all their attitude and demands."

He grinned, "You're right. They are tough but everything can be fixed with a good computer and even better software."

"Do they…"I half whispered getting closer to him, "use Photoshop?"

"That's the first thing you learn if you want to survive in that area."

"Have you ever…"

"I can't tell you. I have sworn secrecy." He said mocking me and placing a hand over his heart.

"Well there goes my plan for exposing them." I said grinning too.

We kept quiet for the next few minutes looking at the photographs when he cleared his throat.

"Hey, I was thinking, do you want to go to get a cup of coffee?"

I turned to see his face light up as I agreed, not before looking at my watch.

Surely, it was late and a coffee at this time was probably going to keep me up but I wanted to. I wanted to spend more time with him. I couldn't explain it but I felt a certain way when I was with him and I didn't want the feeling to go away.

We ended up walking out in the street towards a small coffee shop not far from the gallery.

It had a few tables and we made our way into the furthest back corner of the coffee shop. From here, you could see the traffic coming in and out of the shop but they couldn't see us. I wouldn't have picked this table but he had already pointed us here before he left to get our coffees.

"Here you go," he said as he gave me my coffee and sat beside me in the booth.

"Thanks," I mumbled and got hold of my cup. I took a sip of it and the hot liquid warmed my body.

"I didn't know you liked photography," He said with a surprised look, "I mean for someone working in a cubical."

"Yeah, it's my guilty pleasure." I said mocking him. "But yes, I like it. Only when the emotion is captured. That's when you know that the pictures are good."

"You speak like you're in the business, a hobby of your's perhaps?"

"No, but it's like drawing don't you think?" he nodded. "I mean if a painter can capture the emotion of the moment, or into a drawing it wouldn't be difficult to do the same with photography." I said and looked away from his gaze. I took another sip of my coffee.

"You draw." He said as a matter of fact.

I nodded. "It's nothing really, just what I do in my freetime."

He smiled, "I would like to see some of your work."

"I don't think so. I mean I haven't shown my work to my friends." Not to mention Alec. Drawing was always so private to me. What was a diary to others, to me was drawing.

"Then let me know you. I want to know you and then maybe you will let me." He said smiling and I couldn't help not smiling back.

I thought of what he said. I wanted Jace to know me better and even like me if possible, but there was a thing called Alec and I wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do. I wouldn't be dating him of course but he didn't seem to me as friend material either.

"Look," I said taking a serious tone, "it's good that we met and all but my life is complicated and I'm not looking for…"

"Me either. I'm not asking to marry you. I don't even believe in marriage, but I'm sure we can be friends." He said with a question in his voice.

I smiled, "Friends it is."

* * *

The sun came in the room, making me groan and cover myself more. I hated waking up early, especially during the weekend. I searched for Alec next to me but I didn't find him. I had forgotten that now he worked on Saturdays to impress his boss. That worked fine with me though, I would have a whole day for myself to do anything I want. Writing the invitations weren't something I would call anything I wanted to do, because if it was up to me I wouldn't do them at all.

But then, I had Simon. I smiled. He and Isabelle would help me and I would spend some time with my best friend. I never admitted that in front of Isabelle but it was true. He would be the one I would go running to when I needed help and guidance. I have known him since we were babies, back then when we lived with our parents. We were next door neighbors. Of course, I have known Isabelle too from that time, but I only got to see her at school so I was occupied mostly by him.

I got up slowly swearing myself for running into the open door. I had a tendency of clumsiness in the morning so left open doors didn't help. I showered and got my things ready for when I would go to Simon's place. I could have told them to meet me here but I wanted to get out.

I got my bowl of cereal and sat down to eat. Next to me, I saw my phone vibrating. I took a close look at it and saw a text from Jace. With no intention of my own, a smile crept on my lips. I pushed it away.

_Good morning friend! What about meeting me at the park for another coffee? Let's see… around 3? And if you're lucky you can see me in action… _

_JH_

See him in action? What did that mean? I wasn't sure if I wanted to go but the park was close to Simon so…

I checked the time. Only 11 o'clock. Plenty of time till 3…if I decided I wanted to meet Jace and much more time till I get to Simon. I sighed and got up. I would write some invitations to kill some time.

I opened the box with invitations and saw the huge pile of cards. There were 200. I wasn't looking forward to writing 200 invitations but I made a deal with Alec last night. He would write half of them since most of the people coming were his family.

I slowly wrote the names with small round letters. I made sure I had the names correct, I didn't want some strangers to end up at the wedding, not that I would know everyone. I still hadn't meet Alec's parents yet, but that was because they weren't living in New York. Alec told me that we would spend maybe a week or two with them before the wedding.

I wrote a few more names but I got tired and left the rest for Simon to finish. I walked to the spare room. I don't know why, but I felt an urge to touch the piano again. I slowly ran my fingers on the keys, careful not to hit any notes as that you would result in something bad.

I had stopped playing it two years ago, when my parents died. But lately I found myself longing to press a key. It didn't matter which one but I wanted to hear that sound that used to make me happy.

I sat down and closed my eyes. I remembered all the times I used to play as a child, my parents proud listening to me giving my recitals and I smiled.

I looked at the time again and saw that it was 12, time to make some lunch and reply to Jace.

I would go to the park. Somehow, this longing for playing the piano had begun when I first met him. When I first met him something changed inside of me and not only I wanted to know him better but I wanted to do things I hadn't done in a long time. So I texted him that I would meet him at 3.


	6. Dancing in the rain

Author: Frosy  
Beta: burning(.)x(.)impossibly(.)x(.)bright

* * *

**The Choice**

Chapter 5

**Dancing in the Rain**

When I was little, I liked going out in the rain. I didn't care if I would get wet and cold. I just wanted to feel the drops slide down my face as I stood under the heavy clouds.

My parents would always ground me after that. They were very strict as far as my behaviour was concerned. My dad was the sheriff of the small town where I grew up before I moved to New York. They controlled everything in my life. I didn't have other siblings. My parents had tried many years for a child until they got me. I remember the last time I was with them in Central Park. It was last year; one day before the accident.

Looking around me, I realised that Jace hadn't told me the exact spot I was going to find him at. One of his texts said it would be obvious, but the park was huge and it would take me a long time to walk through it all. I walked a few minutes with the wind blowing my hair when I heard shouts. This time of year there weren't many people visiting the park. The cold weather was one limitation. I turned my head to the voices and followed them. When I saw the scene in front of me, I understood what Jace had said about seeing him in action. There was a shooting going on.

The shooting stage was placed in front of some bare trees and the models were in swimsuits. I shivered. Just watching them dressed like that in this weather made me have cold shivers down my spine.

"There you are," Jace said as he approached me. He was wearing a thick black coat and gloves. His golden hair was perfectly in place, despite the wind.

"Wow, I never thought that's what you meant when you said I'd see you in action."

"Well, I have other action scenes as well if you're interested." He winked at me. "I'm going to take the pictures now before the models freeze and they sue me for an unhealthy workplace; which would be a first in that area."

"Have you been sued before?" He smiled playfully and went away.

I worked myself towards the tent where a few women were fiddling with clothes and make up. There were models getting last minutes touch ups before they were called in front of the camera. I noticed that there was a familiar face among them.

Isabelle's neighbour Maia was fixing a woman's hair. I didn't know her in person, but I had seen her once when I was over at Isabelle's when she came to complain about the music Aline had turned way up. Other than that, I had no idea why Isabelle hated her.

"Maia can you get me that blue box?" An older woman said to her. She looked up and her eyes searched the box sitting next to me.

"Sure," she said setting down her brush. She came and took the blue box looking at me funny as she delivered the box.

"You're new here." She stated taking the brush and went back to working with the model's hair. "I haven't seen you here before."

"Em... well I'm not working here. I came to see a friend." She raised her eyebrow.

"You're Clary right?" She said and I was afraid she recognized me from Isabelle's apartment. "Jace told me you were coming."

At the sound of his name, many hostile faces turned to me, eyeing me suspiciously. I hadn't noticed before, but the people working behind the camera were all men, except for Maia and the elderly woman. The rest, that in this case were staring me, were models. I felt uncomfortable.

The model's turn came up and she left, leaving me with Maia, who gestured for me to take a seat.

"Thanks. Jace didn't mention..."

"Didn't mention me?" she laughed. "Well, girlfriends don't take it well when they find out that their boyfriend's best friend is a girl."

I smiled at her mostly trying to cover my blush. Jace had been talking about me. "I'm not his girlfriend."

"Just don't sue him too. He's gotten enough so far from the models, although they are the ones that are all over him. But you don't work here right?" she smacked her forehead, "Then, forget about it. So how'd you two meet?" I raised my eyebrow questioning her.

"I thought Jace talked to you about me."

"Yeah, but he's a man. Men never appreciate details." I laughed softly at that. Alec was the exception then. He always liked details. He always spotted small details in whatever aspect of his life. Cleaning the apartment was a nightmare under his eyes.

She looked alarmed as she got up and started storing some of the hair products in a bag.

"Look don't tell him I spoke to you, he'll kill me!" she said half whispering.

"I don't think that will be..."

"Sorry for being late. I just finished with those stupid bimbos and..." he hesitated looking between me and Maia, "Everything ok here?" He asked me and glanced towards Maia, who was now was talking to a guy with purple highlights. I nodded.

"I want you to help me with something. Come on." He said pointing the way, but not before grabbing some hot coffee. "Maia, I need you too."

He guided us through the crowd without speaking further more to Maia, just a few orders that had to do with the photo shooting. I glanced between them and I could see Maia was tensed and Jace relaxed, but the way he kept his hands close to his body gave me the impression that he was nervous. I caught Maia's eyes and asked her a silent question. _What's going on?_ She shrugged.

We reached the trailer and got inside. Eyes followed us all the way there.

"Don't worry," Maia told me, "you'll get used to it." I unwilling smiled at her.

Jace reached the table and opened something that looked like it was full of drawings, bad attempts of them actually.

"I don't draw well, but I hoped that you could help me with that." He smiled at me.

The next two hours I helped him with drawings of what it seemed like tattoos; strange marks of black ink that he wanted on the models. So, Maia grabbed the eye pencils and let me draw them on the models.

"I didn't know that you were planning for this. I could have brought more black pencils." Maia said to him as she gave Jace and me a new pair of black pencils. He and Maia were also painting them onto the models with my help.

"Well the idea just came up this morning." He smiled at me. "But then, I already had the general idea of what I wanted. Perfect opportunity today, since we have Clary and it's cloudy. Excellent scenery."

"So you just wanted me for this?" I faked being hurt and his smile grew bigger.

"Of course not! I enjoy your company you know." He whispered that last sentence to me.

"I think we're done." Maia said and sent the last models outside.

"Just let me finish this one." Jace said and I went to look at his job.

"Very good, but that line needs to be fixed. Here let me show you." I said and I placed my hand over his to guide him. He tensed under my touch, but I ignored it. "Just keep your hand steady and don't take your eyes from it."

He came closer to me. "Like this?" he asked while staring at me as I lead his hand.

"Well, it would be much better if Clary had done all the work. I mean she draws amazingly well!" Maia said and saved me from saying something really stupid to Jace, who was now smiling and finishing his work.

Time had flown quickly, but I didn't care. I was having a good time, even if I was just hanging around drawing some symbols on almost nude models. It ought to have made me feel bad for my slim body without any curves, but Jace's eyes were on me most of the time, giving me his crooked smile I was so accustomed to by now.

Maia was keeping a low profile because she didn't want to give away that she had already introduced herself, so when Jace saw how well we got along he finally told me that Maia was his best friend. His only best friend.

"So how long have you known each other?" I asked.

"Well let me think." Maia started, "I think since I got into my first fight and that was...in 3rd grade. Yeah, about that time, it's actually a rather funny story."

"Don't tell me. He saved you from a bully acting all heroic?" I giggled.

"Yeah, you could say that." Jace said.

"No," Maia went on, "nothing like that. Rather, it was me saving his butt from the school's bully." I just stared back and forth between them, and they started laughing but I could see that Jace wasn't that much interested in sharing that little detail.

"Wow. That's...a new one." I said smiling at him. "I can't even picture it." I said to him and he just shrugged.

"Ok, why don't you go and finish what you started because I'm not sure the models are going to appreciate the reason why you're stalling." Maia said to him. "And I'm going to sit here with Clary and behave." She also said to him when she saw the look on his face.

"I'll get back at you somehow." Jace muttered as he left.

I looked at the time. I was already late for meeting Simon as I excused myself, said goodbye to Maia, and quickly made my way out. I could see Jace in the distance, shouting and trying to keep the models in line and I thought I shouldn't bother him for a goodbye. There was always next time. I could see Jace another time and I wanted to.

Simon was in his sweats when I got to his place with a dozen rainbow donuts. His favourite. I was feeling bad enough for making him go through this and with me being late, the least I could do was bring him some donuts. I stepped in and a strong familiar perfume filled my lungs.

"Is Isabelle already here?" I asked him.

He ran his hands through his messy hair. "Well, you see... Isabelle won't be able to come."

I raised my eyebrow at him. "Are you sure about that? Because her perfume is telling me that she was here and not long ago."

"Em..."

"Simon?" I demanded, tapping my foot on the floor like my mother always did when she caught me doing something I wasn't supposed to.

He sighed. "She just left."

"I knew it! I can't believe she just left! She was supposed to help me finish these stupid invitations. How am I supposed to do that?"

"That's what I'm supposed to do remember?"

I stared at him. "What? Oh, yeah, but I never really wanted help by you. I mean don't get me wrong, but your penmanship is awful."

I looked around me. The apartment smelled like Isabelle, but there was no evidence of her. Everything in here screamed Simon. From the large TV screen on the wall with hundreds of DVDs to follow, to the kitchen painted and decorated mostly in the colour red.

"I brought you some donuts." I said waving the bag as I took a seat. "Sorry for being late. So, what's up?"

He took the bag and sat beside me. "Rainbow donuts. How well you know me." He nudged me with his shoulder and smiled. "The comic book is coming out soon."

"Already?" I asked. Simon was sketching and designing an upcoming comic. While we were in college together, he had managed to do a double major in business as well as graphic design. I on other hand had chosen to take some drawing classes as my electives.

"Yeah, it's almost done." He said shrugging and reached for another donut. He didn't seem as excited as he was when he first started it.

"You don't sound so crazy about it." I stole the last donut.

"It's just...now that it's done I'm worried that people won't like it."

"Of course they will." I gave him mild strokes at his back, comforting him. "You've done an amazing job. You'll see. Everything is going to be fine. Has Isabelle seen your finished work? I'm sure she must be excited."

"Yeah, she has seen it, but that doesn't count. She's my girlfriend. She's supposed to love it anyway." He broke into a smile. "But I'm a little nervous to be honest. It's my first huge deal, and I want it to be perfect."

He got up and went into the kitchen. I followed him. I'd always loved his sense of style and design, from his decorations at home to his artwork. His designs were bold and he was never afraid to express himself. The white tile floor went perfectly with the red appliances over the kitchen area.

Most of all I adored the painting over the sink. There were no windows in here, but the painting gave you the impression that there was more than that. It was a simple sketch of a window and beyond that, you faced blue and white waves as the sun illuminated their features. It could be so much better than a real window reflecting the habitual city. The picture woke up inside me the desire to play the piano. I hadn't played for so long. It surprised me though, because I wasn't seeing this picture for the first time. I wondered what caused this craving.


	7. Unexpected

**Hey guys! I know I haven't updated for a looooooong time but I'm back. I will be finishing this story because of you and I want to thank you for the reviews so far. Since I won't be updating every week but every other week (Finals are up) I will try to make the chapters longer. This one is the longest so far.**

**Enjoy and don't forget to review! You make my day! :)**

**Also my Beta hasn't gone through the chapter yet so don't be harsh on me. I didn't want you to wait any longer. :)**

* * *

_**Unexpected**_

Chapter 7

I was sitting on my desk counting the minutes till the clock reached 5 so I could go home. I wasn't looking forward to a visit to the venue Alec came up with but it had to be done. The invitations were done I just had to send them out and as far for the girls dresses they were already picked. I though still hadn't picked a dress and Aline made feel awful for not finding it already. I still had two good months to go. How hard it would be?

Minutes were going by very slowly. Nothing new came in. I still had some forms to proof and sent but that could be done tomorrow. So I brought out my wedding notebook. It was a gift from Aline and it had the title _The Wedding Notebook_. It's supposed to help you organize your wedding. I checked my list of things.

"What are you doing?" I looked up to find Sarah. She was trying to see what I was reading.

"Nothing. Just checking my grocery list." I lied. I hadn't told anybody at the office that I was getting married. Not that I didn't want them to know... it just never came up and I wasn't really close to anyone except maybe Sarah.

"Honey this isn't the grocery list. This thing is covered with pink and white ribbons. Are you sure it isn't anything else?" she eyed my notebook.

"Well..."

"Oh, my God! You are getting married aren't you?" she squeaked. "I can't believe you're getting married and didn't tell anyone. You are in big trouble missy." She grabbed the notebook and took a look at it. "Definitely getting married," She said with a huge smirk on her face. I took my notebook back.

"So who is the lucky man?"

"His name is Alec."

"Does he have a good looking friend?"

I smiled. "I don't think that you would like lawyers."

"What? Lawyers are my specialty." She laughed. "Congratulations girl. I hope you'll live many happy years with him." she said serious now. Sarah was married for 15 years before she found out that her husband was cheating her with another woman.

Suddenly I wasn't sure about my future. "I will."

I drove through the lightly lit streets to find an empty apartment. Alec was still at the office. He had called earlier and told me he would be late. He rarely stayed late for work so it seemed weird now without him. I decided to make us a wonderful dinner. My cooking skills weren't much of a skill but my skills at picking a restaurant were excellent. I picked up the phone and dialled the Chinese restaurant just a few blocks away. I placed my order and decided I would go and pick it up. I needed a walk after all those hours sitting in that uncomfortable chair.

I changed into my sweat pants took my keys and strode out. The streets were filled with people trying to get home as soon as possible. Smells came in from the restaurants nearby and teenagers showing off with their skateboards. Our neighbourhood wasn't bad but Alec wanted us to move. Get our own home somewhere out of the center of New York. It may take him 1 hour or so in the mornings to get to work but he said it would worth it. He didn't like the craziness that existed in downtown.

I hurried down the block plugging in my ears my ipod blocking out every sound. I chose the playlist that was filled with classic piano pieces and my fingers started to move with no reason. I made a note to maybe tonight sit down and try to play. After all it's been a year since my parents died. A hand was placed on my left shoulder and I started panicking.

I turned around ready to face whoever it was when I saw a familiar face.

Jace smiling at me, "Hey, sorry if I scared you."

"Almost." Smiling back at him. I was relieved it was him. I wasn't prepared for an encounter with some creepy guy.

"Taking a walk?" he said looking over my appearance. I soon realised what I was wearing and tried to smooth down my hair which I had pulled up in a loose bun.

"No, just going to pick up some food. I... am at a friend's place not far away. We were watching a movie and got hungry." I was very close at revealing him where I lived. "Going home?" I asked in attempt to learn where he lived.

"Nah," he said and we walked together, "I have a friend in this neighbourhood that I wanted to visit but he's not there. I guess I'll try calling him."

"How's Maia? Haven't seen her for a while."

"She's driving me crazy if that's what you're asking but other than that fine."

"Driving you crazy for what?" I asked him.

"She wants to go to this movie and I don't... wait a minute. Do you want to come? I don't know if I can handle this alone." He said looking at my profile.

I wasn't sure if he wasn't able to handle a movie or not and my guess was that he was using Maia as an excuse to drag me along. But the thing was that I wanted to go.

But I decided to play hard to get. "Well... I don't know. I have things to do and... when is it?"

"We can go tomorrow."

"Mmm..." we were outside of the Chinese place and we came to a stop, "let me get back to you for that." I said and went into the restaurant. Jace stood outside of the place for awhile as if deciding what to do but sighed and left.

I reached my apartment and all the way there I was thinking about Jace. It just took a few minutes of him to make him get stuck into my mind. I dropped the food on the kitchen counter and went to the office room. I sat on the bench in front of my piano. I carefully placed my fingers on it and started playing without thinking. I played slowly at first, notes reaching my ears talking me by surprise. I didn't play anything in particular just random pieces flexing my fingers over the keyboards. And all this time I had a smile on my face.

I didn't hear Alec coming in but when I noticed he was standing by the door frame I stopped playing and turned to find a wide eye open Alec with a slightly smile on his face.

"I thought I would never hear you play again." He said half smiling.

I shrugged, "It just came to me." I said my smile broad.

He came and gave me a hug. "Thank you." He said and I hugged him back.

Later on when Alec and I were finished eating, Maia called.

"Hey, Clary. Jace told me you wanted to see the movie too. I am so excited! You're gone love it!"

"I never said I would come." Alec raised his eyebrow quietly asking who it was.

"Oh, come on Clary. You said you wanted to hang out with me sometime and this is sometime."

"Emm... I don't know. When is it again?"

"Tomorrow and you're not saying no." I searched my mind to see what I had to do tomorrow. Alec and I had to go see the venue he picked up. After that I suppose I could go.

"Is there a late show?" I asked her.

"Sure there is! That's the perfect time for the movie. See you tomorrow!" and she hang up. I realised that we handed arranged where we're going to meet and she didn't tell me where was the cinema place was either.

"Who was it?" Alec asked raising his head from his paperwork.

"A friend from the office. I kind of told her I wanted to see a movie and now she expects to me to come along."

"Do I know her?"

"No, no. She just moved to New York and I wanted to show her around." It hurt that I lied to him. But why did I lie? If he knew I was going out with Maia and Jace I didn't think that it would bother him. I knew Isabelle would mind and that's why I didn't tell anything to her or Aline. I made a mental note to ask her what's going on with her and Maia.

"That's nice of you." He said and placed a kiss on my cheek and guilt sank in my chest.

"Yeah. I think I'm going to sleep" I said and went into our bedroom.

* * *

"What do you think?" Alec said when we arrived at the venue. The actual room where wedding was going to take place was breathtaking. The walls were light gray with white patterns on and a few tables were covered with the green linens I had picked. They were covered with some extra stripes of brow-gold fabric and the blue lights dimmed the place.

"Wow. This place looks beautiful. How did you manage to make the tables?"

"Aline helped with those ones. She said it would make the decision easier for you."

"So basically you have already booked the place and wanted me to approve?" he looked elsewhere.

"Maybe."

"Alec." My voice warning and a bit of frustrated, "Why on earth did you think that I would say yes. We haven't checked any other places yet."

"But look at the place Clary. It's perfect for the wedding and it's in our price range." I looked at him hard and sighed.

A lady come and introduced herself. She was the manager of the venue and she came to make sure if we needed anything.

"Is this how you imagine the reception?" she said with her blonde wavy hair falling into her face. She pushed them away.

"Almost." Alec said confident, "We just need the center pieces for the tables."

"You surprise me Alec. I thought you had already picked those too." I mocked him.

"No, I left that job for you." He said his voice calm but mine was beyond calm.

"I can't believe you went behind my back. I thought we would decide together on everything wedding related and you just went along without even..." He grabbed my hand and took me away.

"Could you excuse us for a moment?" he said to the lady.

He let go of my hand, "Clary would you give me a break? I was trying to do something nice for you. I have noticed that you spend a lot of hours out on the streets planning this wedding and I wanted you to feel safe by knowing we already have the venue booked. The least you could do is thank me." Placing it like that he made me feel guilty because the reason I wasn't home all the time wasn't because I spend my hours trying to plan my wedding. But it was rather because I spend them with Maia and Jace.

"Ok, I am sorry. I guess the pressure has gotten me." Oh yeah, that's what was it.

"Can we go now and try to think of ways to make this place better? I am sure you would like to bring Isabelle and Aline to see it and help you with the decorating stuff."

"Yeah, sure." I grunted.

Thankfully he didn't have other surprises for me and we headed home. I was so pissed that I nearly forgot about Maia when she texted me the place and the time for tonight's movie.

"I am going out." I said and headed to the door.

"Are you still mad at me?" he said from the kitchen.

"Maybe." I said and he came closer.

"I am sorry. Is there a way for you to forgive me?" he said teasing me. I wasn't in the mood so I strode out of the door.

The cold air woke me up and prepared myself for... I had no idea what I was preparing myself. I just hoped it wasn't a thriller.

I meet them up before the movie started and soon enough I found out what it was. A thriller movie.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked Maia.

"I thought you liked thrillers. Jace told me so." This couldn't be happening.

"What did Jace tell?" Jace rushed next to us giving us our tickets.

"Why didn't you tell me that we were going to a thriller? I hate thrillers." I stared him.

"It never occurred to me." He smirked and went into room 3 where the movie was played.

"I so hate him right now." I said to Maia.

"They all do at first."

After what seemed like years the movie ended and I was glad that the contents of my stomach were in place.

"Oh man. That movie even scared me!" Jace said laughing as we walked outside from the cinema place.

"Are you kidding?" Maia told him, "Did you even notice the bad effects? And don't even get me started with the poor acting. It was awful." She finished shaking her head clearly disappointed.

"To be honest I wasn't paying much attention but it's a thriller Maia. What did you expect? Oskar worthy movie?" Jace said linking his arms with both of us. His touch fired up my whole body through two layers of heavy coat.

"Yeah, whatever." Maia waived him off and looked at me, " What did you think about the movie Clary?" I searched for an answer.

The truth was I barely saw the movie. I am not that into thrillers and the sight of blood is just….. not right. I don't know why I even agreed to this. I should have left when I found out.

So I mostly occupied myself by trying to hide my eyes from the disgusting parts while Jace tried to make me see. Apparently he enjoyed seeing me suffering. Although he was good enough to let me bury my face into him, when the bad guy or whatever the hell he was, tried to kill that poor college girl.

After that even if I stared at the screen or not it was the same thing. I just couldn't concentrate. I kept thinking how I felt that few moments. My anger towards him was gone. His arms wrapped protectively around me drove away the anger, keeping me into his embrace and with his chin barely touching my head. My face was close enough to his neck to smell him. He smelled aftershave and green soap and something spicy. He even smoothed my bright red hair before I pulled myself in my seat.

I didn't dare look at him after that but I could feel his gaze on me and my cheeks got warm. After that I barely remember how the movie ended. All I could think was his warm body and the hot breaths I felt on my hair.

"Horrendous. I don't even want to talk about it." My heart flattered as Jace stoke my arm with his fingers.

"So I am assuming there is not appetite for some food, right?" I nodded. "Good because I don't think I can handle food right now." Jace said and Maia eyed us.

"You two are pathetic." She said and brought out of her bag the rest of her popcorn. Mine ended up under our seats. "I am so hungry."

Her arm left Jace's arm in order to grab her popcorn living me and Jace tangled up. It felt wrong me and him walking with linked arms looking like a couple but it felt so good at the same time that I had no idea what should I do.

We reached Maia's car and said our goodbyes. I could still see her driving away when Jace spoke.

"Did you come with your car?"

"Yeah, it's not far from here." I said looking down the road. It was very dark and silent. I shivered.

"I'll walk you."

We left his car which was parked just outside the cinema place and walked towards mine. His arm wasn't on mine and I felt something missing. We reached my car and I turned to thank him when his lips touched mine.

At first I was surprised, my eyes wide open, not knowing what to do. But when his lips started to move against mine and his hands cooped my face I closed my eyes and let it happen. It was everything I hadn't felt before. It was slow, soft and sweet. There was nothing urgent into the kiss and he took his time. He depend the kiss. I push him away.

"Wait. You need to know something first." I said but he was taken aback.

"I know I probably shouldn't have done that but I couldn't resist you Clary." He locked his eyes with mine and I could see his desire for me.

"Tell you what," he said after a few moments, "I'll leave it to you. Sleep it over and then come to me and say what you want to say." he said talking backwards steps.

"Jace wait. You need to know..." but he turned his back at me and stomped away leaving me confused. I touched my lips. They were slightly swollen and there was a slightly possibility that I wanted more of his lips. Things weren't going so well.


	8. Plans

PLANS

Nothing goes as planned. You're never sure how things will turn out. Sure, you can plan your life and have goals to achieve but nothing-and I mean nothing- can guarantee you the success.

My parents always told me to plan ahead. Either it was for school projects or taking my first steps as an adult. You must have a goal, they told me. Sure enough I was captured by their persuasive skills and found myself planning my future. They told me which college to attend, the year I should graduate, where to get my first job and of course- my mom's worry- when I should get married. Everything went smoothly except one thing. The marriage.

According to the plan I was supposed to be already married with a second kid on the way. Funny, how life turns things around. My parents never understood that you can never plan emotions and I surely understand that now.

I wondered back to the events three nights ago. My mind snapped back to that kiss and my fingers went to my lips. I never thought a kiss could be drilled that deep into your mind. I hadn't stopped thinking about it since it happened. When I got home Alec was already asleep and thank God for that because I wouldn't know what to answer him when he'd see my face. I thought of Jace. Where is he now? What was he thinking? Did he like the kiss as much as I did? Questions I wanted to know the answer and at the same time I feared to ask.

When I first meet Jace I hadn't felt anything for him but as I got to know him I liked him more and more. I can't deny that. But where was he according to my plan? I wasn't supposed to have those feelings for any other guys except Alec. The one I was supposed to marry.

Sure the feelings must be merely there. I am just excited that someone expressed an interest on me, that's all. Then why was I gripping my phone so hard that it could break in any minute, hopping it would ring? Another question I couldn't handle the answer.

My whole life, I was never the one to debate about things. My parents were always there to guide me and make my life easier by choosing my path, so I never developed those skills and self defence I needed to survive in this world. But then I found Alec and that was close to taking my parents place.

My parents were so happy when they first met him. They really liked him and thought he was one I should keep, just because he was just like them. All about plans and choosing, something I lacked.

"Clary?" Alec called me and I snapped out of my reverie.

"Huh?" I turned to face a puzzled Alec.

"I said, what do you think about a live band?"

"Em... I don't know. Let me think it over a little." I said and got up and put my plate in the sink.

"Are you feeling ok?" Alec's worried voice said.

"I'm fine. Why are you asking?"

"You just seem... off today. I was wondering if the wedding is too much for you now. You know we can always..."

I hugged him hard closing my eyes feeling him for moment, "The wedding will go as planned," I dragged myself and looked at his face. "Nothing is wrong. Don't worry. I just... I think I'm anxious about the wedding that's all." I said smiling at him.

He returned my smile, "Are you still going out tonight?" I nodded.

"Isabelle and Aline will be here soon. I need to get ready." I moved from his embrace. "What about you?" I yelled from our bedroom.

"Sebastian will be here to watch the game."

"Simon isn't coming?" I wondered. He never missed an opportunity for this.

"He wasn't feeling well." Alec ran his hand through his chest shrugging as I came back to him. "I think he and Isabelle aren't going well."

"Could you zip this up?" I turned so he could face the zipper of my dress. "I didn't know there was something going on."

"Haven't you notice anything?" I frowned. When was the last time I saw Isabelle? I haven't seen her for at least two weeks. Why? Because I spend my time with Jace, that's why. "I thought you would know," Alec said.

"Nah. She hasn't told me anything. Are you sure of this? I mean you're not that good at reading people." I bit my lip and looked at my phone placed on the kitchen counter.

He was quite for a while. "Yeah, I may be wrong. I hope so."

* * *

Isabelle came and picked me up and now we were on our way to Aline's house. We all agreed to use one car. Parking was terrible in this part of New York.

"So you guys are still coming to Mangus' birthday party?" I asked Isabelle. Most of the ride to Aline's house was in silence. Her face didn't have the usual glow it had.

"I don't know," she said as we stopped for a red light. "I may be having something at the gallery."

"Come on! You wouldn't possibly want to miss little Magnus? Besides, Aline will need our help with all those little ones," I said to her as we stopped for a red light.

"Magnus is going to turn four. How much do you think he'll remember when he gets older?" she looked at me. "Not much and especially not me at his birthday party." She turned around and moved the car forward.

"How is Simon's comic coming up?" I looked at her stiffen and her hands got still for a moment before relaxing them. "He told me last time that he is almost finished with it," her posture didn't change. "This also reminds me that you bailed on me for those invitations that day," I added.

She gave me a smile this time. "You didn't think I would actually come, did you?"

"Of course not and thank god for that. You would probably end up making out with Simon at the sofa," I laughed it off. She barely smiled back.

We passed a couple of intersections saying nothing more but I wanted to ask her about what Alec had said to me earlier. It bugged me that I hadn't figured out this sooner. I could tell that something was bothering Isabelle but she wasn't willing to show it. Or at least she tried to.

After we picked up Aline and reached the restaurant, we sat at the bar waiting for our table to get ready. Tonight was a bridesmaid's night. It was all about us. Of course it was also a way of celebrating the fact that most of the details about the bridesmaids were done. The only thing that mattered was for them to sort out who was going to be my maid of honour.

"And of course, your bachelorette party!" Isabelle said to me.

"Sebastian keeps asking me who the best man will be," Aline said to me.

"Ask Alec. He's not telling me either," I glanced at Isabelle. "And don't even think about getting strippers. The party has no strippers policy."

She grinned. "I know about your rules Clary. But let me tell you that rules are meant to be broken." I gave her a look.

"Really? Strippers? How come I didn't have any strippers at my bachelorette party?" Aline asked.

"Because we knew Sebastian would be crushing the party." Isabelle answered her.

"You knew? How come I'm learning this now?" Just then the waitress came in and moved us at our table.

The rest of the night went smoothly and Isabelle was more than ok. She seemed a little relaxed and more conversational than in the car.

"Isabelle, I wanted to ask you something," I started. I grasped at the opportunity while Aline was in the restroom so we could alone.

"What?"

"I was just wondering if things between you and Simon are ok." I noticed her sigh at the sound of his name.

"You picked that up, haven't you?" I had Alec to thank for.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing really. I'm just... you know... you getting married... Aline having Magnu's birthday... I don't know. Maybe I'm overreacting a little." She shook her head as to clear her thoughts and added, "Yeah, that's probably it. Just overreacting."

I looked at her trying to figure out what exactly was bothering her but my instinct seemed to scream it to me. "You're saying that you want to g..."

"I'm not saying anything." She glanced at Aline that was on her way to our table. "And for the record, I and Simon are fine." By the sound of her voice I knew better than to insist on finding out more.

We were almost finished with our dinner when I noticed him. He was sitting a few tables over with another two men. I should have recognized him sooner with his blonde hair standing out. He seemed to be in deep conversation with them. He was nodding eagerly but then he started speaking fast using his hands. The guy's jaw tightened and I thought they were fighting over something but then they started laughing. He got up and went to the restroom.

"Where are you going Clary?" Isabelle asked me but I waived her off. I followed the direction he took and ended on a hallway leading to the restrooms. I contemplated what should I do. Waiting for him would seem bizarre and I didn't want him to think that I followed him. As far as I know he isn't aware of me being here and then what would I say to him? Before I could think of anything he blurted out of the restroom nearly crushing on me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't see you there," he looked surprised. "Clary?"

"Jace?" He smiled.

"What are you doing here?" He looked me once all over resting his eyes briefly on my lips. So he still remembered.

"I'm having dinner with my friends Isabelle and Aline. What are you doing here?"

He grinned. "You really didn't saw me over there? Because I did."

"Excuse me." Someone said and passed through us.

"I'm meeting up with a client but if I had known you would be here I wouldn't have come."

"Why?" I said disappointed.

"I couldn't concentrate." His eyes boring mine. Then his face changed into something I didn't expect. Regret. "I have to get back. It was nice seeing you." He left me there literally not knowing what happened.

I returned to the table rather confused. I hadn't expect that from Jace. I though since we kissed we shared something, but he acted like nothing happened.

"The dresses will be delivered a week before the wedding." Aline was going through the details once again making sure I hadn't forgotten anything. "Clary will send off the invitations next week, which also mean you have to make the sitting plan for the venue. The decoration-most part of it- is already picked. So which one did you pick Clary?" I was still searching in my mind for a reason why on earth Jace would act like we hadn't kissed when Aline asked me something. I couldn't pay attention to her and I wanted so badly to turn my head and see him. But that would show him that I cared. And I didn't care.

"Sorry, what did you say? I was thinking about the wedding", I lied.

"I was going through the details about the wedding. I'm sure you know better but I wanted to make sure you know what you have to do." Since my mother passed away last year I couldn't count on her for the wedding so Aline had jumped in to fill the blank.

"She still needs her wedding dress." Isabelle pointed out.

"Holy crap! The most important thing and I forgot it! Of course. Clary," she gave me a look. "When do you think it's the time for you to find one?"

I looked at her without knowing what to answer. To be honest I hadn't thought of that at all. I was preoccupied with all the other details. I was slowly planning this wedding but I had forgotten my dress. I had my _Wedding Notebook _to note everything but most of them had to be confirmed for the day of the wedding. I hadn't actually made them all happen.

"We still have time," I answered her.

"Clary you have 6 weeks before the wedding. You must act soon. Now that I'm thinking of that, we'll go together this weekend. There must be something that you'll like. I nodded and turned towards Jace's table where he had turned his back to me and I couldn't see his face.

* * *

Once Isabelle dropped me outside my apartment; I texted Maia asking for his address. It was a little over 11 and Alec wouldn't be waiting me up since he had a big case tomorrow and hoped Maia was still awake. I had to get to him one way or another. I had to know if it meant something. I had my wedding to think of and not Jace. Maia answered including a lot of questions which I ignored. I didn't have time for that. It was other now or ever. I could easily pretend that it didn't happen, erase his number from my cell phone and continue my life as it is. I grabbed a taxi.

I found out that he was living very close and I could easily have walked the distance but I was afraid that I would change my mind and go. The taxi on the either hand had to take me there. I got of it and climbed the stairs of his building. Taking the elevator gave me a few moments to ease my breath and prepare for... What exactly I didn't know.

I went to his red door. The number 89 was imprinted on it in gold. I took a deep breath and knocked. I didn't hear any shuffling on the either side and my heart eased a little. I wasn't sure if I should be here and if he wasn't here I could just pretend I did my part and moved on. The door opened and found myself wanting to run but his stare held me there.

He had just showered. I could see the droplets of water on his bare chest and his hair glistering from the water. He was barefoot just wearing sweat pants.

"Clary!" he said and stood straight running his hands through this golden hair. "What are you doing here?"

I stood there just watching him, hoping I would come up with a good excuse but my tongue slipped. "I wanted to see you." He watched me carefully and let the door slide open. Without thinking I passed through the door.

His house was nothing as I thought it would be. I imagined his house to be artistic as he is, filled with photographs and modern at the same time, but it was far from that. It was empty. Well not empty from furniture but empty from personality. It was simple as it could be. The walls were white, nothing hanging on them. I was in the living room were only a leather brown couch existed and a large TV. He was a man after all. There were no decorations or anything to show that he lived in this apartment.

I walked slowly around feeling his gaze on my back. There weren't much light and the only source of light was coming from his bathroom and the kitchen's small light. I turned to face and he was standing very close to me that it startled me.

"Nice apartment you have here," I said not knowing what to say. I had lost my trail of thought once I saw him.

He shrugged, "It's good for its purpose."

I looked around trying to find something to tell him. The things I was thinking coming over here had evaporated and there was nothing left. "Why, did you come here?" he asked again.

"I told you I wanted to see you."

"You picked a strange hour to visit me." I hadn't stop to think about that, "but I like it." He finished. He stood there waiting for me to speak up.

"You haven't called," I said to him. "I was thinking that... I mean..." I turned my eyes down, "the other night... em... so..." I looked at him standing there trying to hold a smile. "I better go. Sorry for coming all the way here-" but I didn't have the chance to finish my sentence because he spoke.

"And I was waiting for you to call. If I remember," he took a step towards me, "you were the one to call back."

"Yeah, about that... you see..."

"But instead you came which I like better. I guess my presence at the restaurant did the trick." He was so close now that I could smell his body shower. It was scented apple and something else. He had also shaven and I could almost feel the softness of his jaw, his breath tickling my neck but he didn't move to kiss me. He was leaving that choice to me. All I could do was take it or leave it.

He came ever closer slightly touching my lips, teasing me and all I could think was him. I kissed him and eagerly he kissed me back. This kiss was hungry and greedy and I couldn't stop my hands from roaming him. Nothing else existed in my mind at the moment, just the need to be near him.

We broke our kiss gasping for air but his hands never left my face. "Clary," he simply stated with a huge grin on his face. Even though it was dark in the apartment I could see his face glowing just by looking at me.

"So you wanted you show me than to call me?" he said between kisses.

"I wouldn't be that confident." He smirked and kissed me even more.

What I did next, was something I would regret in the morning.


	9. Surprise

The Choice

Chapter 8

Surprise

I woke up in the morning and tried to get to the kitchen to make some coffee when I realized I wasn't in my apartment anymore but somewhere else. I looked around me at the bright white walls and the window that I noticed I could see my apartment building far away. I looked at myself noticing what I was wearing, or better the lack of it. Next to me laid Jace, his arm hovering above my waist, his face so close to mine that I could smell him.

I stayed there watching him, his chest moving as his breath tickled my neck. Yesterday had been a mistake and just thinking of Alec made me feel nauseous but I couldn't shake the feeling that it also felt good despite my guilt. I had came here to the sole purpose of making sure I didn't feel anything about him but instead I realized that he attracted me in ways I thought no one would after Alec.

He opened his eyes and a smile spread over his heavenly face. I took in those golden eyes and all my worries went away. I could pretend for a little while that nothing else existed. Just a little longer.

"You're up," he said and made a move to get out of the bed. I grabbed his arm.

"Stay a little longer."

He grinned. "I need to feed you as well." He kissed me and then got up and left the room.

I gathered my clothes from the floor and went to the bathroom and tried to make myself presentable. I hadn't worn a lot of make up last night and didn't have any black smages under my eyes. My hair though was another thing. I went to grab a rubber bun to haul down my hair but I didn't have my purse with me. I went towards the living room searching for it.

"Bacon?" Jace called from the kitchen. The smell of eggs filled the room.

"Sure." I found my purse under the sofa where I also found my coat and shoes thrown together into a pile. "I'll help you with the toast." I said.

"No worries. All you can do is drink coffee." He said and slid me a cup of steamy coffee.

"When I wakeup I don't drink coffee right away. I wait a couple of hours."

He arched his eyebrow. "I don't have juice. I hate that stuff."

I laughed. "I guess you hate other healthy stuff as well."

"No I don't. For example, the other day I let myself have a slice of lettuce in my burger. That was healthy enough."

The omelet was delicious I wondered how long have he been living on his own. His apartment was tidy and clean almost as no one was living here.

"Do you know to cook other things except from eggs?"

"Don't forget bacon."

"Of course," I smiled.

He drank his coffee. "When you live alone you kind of need to know."

"How long have you been living alone?" I watched him as he placed his cup down, his mind elsewhere.

"Since I left for college." He turned towards me. "How about we spend this day outside? It has such a beautiful weather."

"I don't… I mean I can't…. I have… a thing. Doctor appointment," I lied. This may have been good but I hadn't forgotten all about Alec. My phone was out of battery but I was sure he was trying to reach me the whole night. He must have even called the girls seeking for me. I had to come up and a pretty good excuse because no way I was going to tell him the truth. Jace was just a destruction that will end soon. Alec and I had something more than that.

"Oh, come on." He said flashing me one of his blinding smiles. He reached my face and grabbed a strand of hair that had escaped and tucked it behind my ear. His smile never left his eyes.

"All right. I guess I can stay a little longer."

* * *

When I reached my apartment I still hadn't come up with a good excuse and my hands were slippery as I inserted the key and unlocked the door. Alec had already left and after I plunged my cell into the charger, I noticed he hadn't called or searched for me either.

I felt a little uneasy of how easy Alec hadn't noticed my absent. I know I should have felt relief but it was not what I was feeling right now. I was feeling sort of hurt and confused. Where did I stand right now? I had cheated on Alec and he didn't suspect anything. What was I suppose to do?

Before I let myself think any further I went to the shower and got ready for work. At least I would get myself distracted at work until I got home again and face Alec. Maybe he did after all notice me missing but didn't do anything, waiting for me to return tonight. Maybe he knew already. I panicked at the thought. I told my self there's no evidence whatsoever that he may know what I did. Still it felt awful.

At work I tried to relax myself and think of anything else but tonight's conformation. I even called Isabelle and Aline to see how they are and to find out if Alec had been searching for me. Nothing. He had done nothing. I didn't know how to feel about that. To top that Jace kept texting me and even called me when he saw I wasn.t answering.

I didn't left the office for my break but rather sat in my office and took out my _Wedding Notebook_ that Aline had given me and got myself absorbed into the details of the wedding. It hadn't passed a few minutes when the phone rang. Without realizing that I was on break I reached for it. It was Alec.

"Alec?"

"I hope I'm not disturbing. I was hoping to catch you before your break." I nodded, my voice a little shaken to speak now but then remembered he couldn't seem.

"Yeah," I said carefully.

"So, I was thinking to wait until we meet tonight but I couldn't wait any longer."

I swallowed hard. Where is the water when you need it? "What?" my voice barely a whisper.

"You don't sound well. Are you busy or something? I can wait till after-"

"No!" I said a little too loud. "I mean… now it's fine." Was it?

"Okay… well I just spoke with my parents and…" his parents? "…arranged for a dinner to finally meet them. I know it's a couple of hours away but I was hopping we could stay for the weekend. Leave Friday morning and return Sunday. I can get Friday off two weeks from now. I don't believe it would be difficult for you to get that Friday off. Besides we have four weeks till the wedding and you have to meet them already." My mouth fell open and relief filled. He wanted us to meet up with his parents. I let out a nervous laugh and agreed to whatever he said. Next thing I knew I was packing my suitcase.

* * *

Maryse and Robert's house turned out to be a three and a half hour road trip, something that I wasn't happy with. Instead of taking next Friday off, we decided to go this Friday after his mother phone call. His brother had finally found the time to visit them this weekend and it was the perfect opportunity for me to meet him.

"What are your parents like?" I asked nervous now that we were getting closer. I had briefly met his parents once when we started dating but I doubted they remember me.

"They are not that bad, remember?"

"I remember that's why I'm asking. I barely got the time to know them. I'm not even sure they remember. I was kind of wasted." I cringed at the memory. Great way to meet your future in-laws.

"Oh, come on. It wasn't that bad." His voice trailed off and I knew it was bad. I just hoped I wasn't that memorable.

"It's your fault if they hate if they don't already. You and your stupid party. You should have told me there were coming."

"I had no idea that they were coming! How was I suppose to know?" he said and glanced toward me. I stared outside the window. Of course it wasn't his fault it was mine. I was the one who got drunk and I was the one who cheated on him. I got the sorrow feeling again.

"Hey," he said and grabbed my hand. "Everything is going to be okay. They are going to love you. You'll see. And if they don't do who cares. I do." He smiled at me and kissed my palm.

We reached the house after that and gasped at what I was seeing. The house and scenery blended so nicely that you thought the house came out of the forest behind it. It had a huge driveway and from what it looked a second floor. I wouldn't be surprised to find a pool at the back yard.

"Wow."

He chuckled. "Wait until you get inside."

The door answered his mother wearing a long sleeved dress her long black hair past her shoulders. She only looked at Alec.

"Alec!" She gathered him in a hug. "It's been so long! How was your trip?" She was still staring at him when Alec turned her to me.

"Mom, this is Clary I was telling you about."

She smiled at me. "Of course. I remember you. Last time I visited Alec." I think I just died inside. She rushed us inside. The inside was a reflection of the outside. Elegant lines and peaceful colors were covering every inch of the house. The entranced opened up into a huge staircase with led to the second floor. At our right from what I could see was the living room. Across from it was the kitchen were sounds came as if someone had taken a pan and was hitting it with all its force against a metal surface.

"Ah, your father again. He is convinced himself these days that he can cook. Don't worry," she added after she saw my face. "I have made dinner just in case." She said and smiled revealing a small dimple in her left cheek, where Alec's was too.

She guided us upstairs where she showed us to our rooms. Apparently until we were married Alec and me would have to sleep in different rooms.

"This is our bedroom and next to ours is Alec's. Yours is down the hall." She pointed two bedrooms down. Nice. Not even she didn't like me but she wanted to put space between Alec and me like she was expecting me that I would go crazy around him or something. There goes my plan on sneaking into his room.

"Excuse me?" She turned to me.

Had I said that aloud? "Em, what a lovely house you have." I smiled hoping she hadn't heard my previous comment. Her tight smile that she gave me made me think that she did.

"Well I'll leave you to get settled while I take care of tonight's dinner. Alec, would you like to join me? I need your help with something."

"Sure. I'll be just a minute." She nodded and left us alone.

"She hates me." I stated.

"No she doesn't. Besides, we just came here. You have all the weekend to get to know each other." He kissed my forehead. "Get some rest. I'll join you later."

"But your mom assigned us different bedrooms."

"She was just being typical." His eyes showed mischief. "I'll sneak in later tonight, after they've gone to bed." I gave him a peck kiss.

"As much I would love that I'm trying to get her on my good side and that means following her rules. Now go before she comes and drag you down."

He gave me a sympathetic shrug and I went to the bedroom she had assigned me to. The bedroom was big enough that could fit a queen bed, a dresser and a vanity. Next to the closet it had a bathroom with a huge tub.

I left my suitcase on the floor and jumped on the bed, the soft comforter hugging my back. I took out my cell phone. It was almost two o'clock and I had two missed calls. Jace. He had tried the last three days calling and texting me but I couldn't bring myself to answer him. What would I tell him? I should just text him that whatever we did or had it's over because simply I'm with someone else. Thinking of Alec made my stomach feel uneasy. I didn't want to hurt him so why hadn't I said anything to Jace?

I don't know how long I laid there but the moment I opened my eyes I found myself in dark room, Alec above my head talking to me.

"What time is it?" I asked him and stood up groaning. My muscles were sore.

"It's almost 6." And planted himself next to me. "Dinner is almost ready. I came earlier too but I couldn't bring myself waking you up. You were so tired."

"I bet your mother didn't mind."

"My brother came a couple of hours ago so I was occupied." I realized then that Alec had never talked to me about his brother.

"How come I didn't know about your brother?"

He shrugged, "it never came up I guess. He travels a lot for his job. It was a surprise that he's in New York. He hasn't been here for the last five years."

"That explains it." I rubbed my head. "I'll change and meet you downstairs." I said to him and tackled my way through my suitcase. I was going to grab a simple T-shirt when I remembered how his mother looked. I went for a simple green dress instead.

I walked down the stairs and turned to the living room. No one was there except from a figure crunched in front of the fireplace. I looked around for Alec. Should I go introduce myself to his dad or wait for him? I could easily just step slowly backwards and get out of the room. I stayed there contemplating what I would do when he stood up and turned to me.

"Jace?"


	10. Family Reunion

The Choice

Chapter 9

Family Reunion

"Jace?" He looked at me with surprising eyes while he moved closer to me.

"What are you doing here?" He whispered to me and I detected an urgency in his voice.

"Here you are." Alec said from behind me giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Jace stopped in his track. I saw in his eyes confusion and then understanding. I stiffed in Alec's embrace. "I see you met my brother, Jace." He mentioned with his head towards him. Jace's eyes were blazing fire when he met mine. I just stood there staring him in disbelief.

"Your," I swallowed, "brother?" I stared at Jace trying to get it into my head. Jace was Alec's brother. Not only I had cheated on him but I had cheated him with his own brother.

"Did I interrupt something when I came in?" Alec gazed between Jace and me.

"I was about to introduce myself." He came closer and hugged Alec. "How have you been? Aren't you tired of court rooms yet?" He said smiling at Alec, his eyes holding an uncertainty.

"Why would he?" Someone spoke form the entrance of the room. "Jace, you haven't gotten home yet and you start harassing your brother." He said smiling at Jace. "And who do we have here? I suppose you are Clary, Alec has been talking about." He gave me hug I wasn't expecting. He was tall like his sons with blue eyes and back hair. Alec was just like his father.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Lightwood." I said to him. My hands were trembling and I had to cross my arms to avoid showing how nervous I was. Was Jace going to tell Alec? Or worse his family?

"Please, call me Robert." He said with a huge smile.

As I had guess, Maryse had arranged our sits. The table was round and she managed to place me between Jace and Alec. I tried to trade places with Alec but a stern look of her made me shut up and sit down, wishing this night to come to an end.

The dinner Robert had cooked was delightful and even though I was hungry earlier, now it seemed as my stomach was ready to explode. I couldn't eat and I moved my fork between small bites trying to look as I was enjoying what I was doing. I could feel Jace next to me, his aroma getting me dizzy and felt him stiff, trying to avoid eye contact with me as much as possible. The dinner was awfully quiet.

I did small talk with Robert while Maryse look at her husband and me nodding as she was too tired to participate. We didn't talk about the wedding and I was grateful about that.

After dinner we moved to the living room the fire still burning and sat down for a drink and dessert. I declined and settled for a drink that I so much needed. The atmosphere was heavy between Jace and me, barely making conversation with the others.

"Alec has told us all about you parents. We're so sorry for your lose. It's been a year right?" Robert said to me; and Jace who wasn't paying attention before lost in his own thoughts, jerked up. He looked surprised and concerned as he looked up to me.

"Yes. It's been exactly one year since last week." I drank more. I wasn't comfortable talking about my parents and it was certainly unsettling to talk about it with his parents.

"I don't want to be rude or anything but who is going to walk you down the aisle?" Maryse asked me.

"I haven't really put a though on it. I guess I'll walk alone." I said looking at my drink.

"I'm sure we can find someone willing to walk with you. Any other relatives? It won't look good if-"

"Mother!" Jace said. He hadn't spoken since dinner and we stared at him. I was more anxious about what he had to say. "Can you leave this subject alone?" his voice lighter now. "We just met her and you're already making her more anxious. Besides it's non of your business who she walks down the aisle with." He said and walked at the mini bar to get another glass of whiskey before giving me a bland stare.

After that the talk about the wedding was minimum and I suspected that, that was the goal Jace wanted to achieve. I didn't believe he cared about what happened at the wedding but he rather cared about his own peace of mind.

After a long hour Robert and Maryse said their goodnights and headed upstairs leaving me with a very quite Jace and a grinning Alec.

"I think that went well." Alec said. Jace locked his eyes with me his expression unreadable. I would give anything to know what he was thinking right now. I bet he was mad and was contemplating whether to tell Alec or not. I had to stop him.

Alec stressed himself and grabbed my hand giving me a light squeeze and a kiss. Jace looked away. "What are you saying? Go to bed? I am so tired I didn't even realize it." He said and got up.

"Don't you remember? You mom put us in different rooms. I would hate to see her mad in the morning."

Jace chuckled at that. "Different bedrooms? Oh, well I'm not surprised."

"Go on," I said to Alec. "I'll stay a little longer." I gave a look at Jace telling him that I need to talk to him.

"But she won't even tell the difference. You're going to be my wife for crying out loud!" He said but I could see that he was thinking about his mother because he was halfway out of the room. "See you in the morning then." He said tiredly.

I was staring at him going up the stairs when Jace spoke. "I'm surprised how you can look at his eyes without the guild killing you." He spoke softly, not angry but I could see it in his eyes the hurt and guilt.

"Jace you have to understand that I tried to tell you, to let you know what was happening but… but…"

"But what? What on earth did stop you from telling me? Why on earth did you let this," he gestured between us, "happen? What were you thinking?" He stood up now pacing in front of the fireplace without looking at me. "I can't even imagine how Alec-"

It was my time to stand up. "Please don't tell him," I begging him. He turned around abruptly.

"Are you insane? Of course I won't! He won't even believe me when I tell him I had no idea I was screwing his fiancé."

I reached for him. "Please don't talk like that."

He walked away from me. "Like what? We were just fucking each other right? No feelings attached. It was just sex. Not need to upset him for something foolish." He walked away.

"It was…" I started and he stopped. His chest hovered up and down his hands clenched at his sides. He was waiting for me to finish my sentence but I couldn't find the words.

He shook his head. "As I thought." And stormed out of the room.

* * *

That night I didn't sleep well. My thoughts were scary and confusing but most of all worried. Worried what Jace thought of me and us. He had made it perfectly clear last night that there was no reason for me to worry. He wouldn't hurt his brother and he had made it clear what he thought of us. He didn't think it as anything and that confused me. Because from the moments we spend together I could see that what we had wasn't something temporary or a spur of the moment. I tried to convince myself what it was but I couldn't quite believe it. I wasn't so sure about my feelings. Because I had some for him but I had no idea what they were and I wasn't ready to find out yet.

The next morning found me sitting by the window of my room refusing to go downstairs. Jace's words had made me mad and I wanted to show him he was wrong but how would I do that when I couldn't figure out my feelings first. So I settled there and wished Alec would come and bring me food.

Minutes passed and I was surprised how he wasn't up yet. He normally got up early no matter if he worked or not. He was a morning person while I was not. But I couldn't sleep in today. Not after what happened yesterday.

My window looked outside the back yard and the few trees enveloping the house. I could see a glimpse of something that looked like a small pond. That would be an interesting walk since this place didn't have Internet connection. I was surprised it even had a TV.

On my way downstairs I paused outside the boor beside my bedroom, Jace's bedroom. I made a move towards it and paused again. Then I took the steps two at the time.

Maryse was sipping her coffee reading the newspaper when I came in. Jace was nowhere to be found. I sighed.

"Where is Alec?" Maryse looked rather annoyed that I had disturbed her from reading what appeared to be the financial section of the paper.

"He went with his father to the country club. Meeting old friends. There is breakfast over there," she pointed at the other side of the kitchen.

"Are they going to gone for long?" I said trying to decide what I wanted, pancakes with lots of syrup or cereal? Jace had made me pancakes last time and I had a slightly suspicion that he had made these as well from the way he had placed the bacon around it. I chose cereal.

"I guess so. Whenever they go to that stupid club they tend to be late." Her voice held a tone of sarcasm. I sat down across of her.

She looked up. "Won't you have a coffee?" she asked me.

"She doesn't drink coffee, not until a couple hours have passed since she gets up." Jace answered for me and went for the coffee. His eyes looked tired.

Maryse looked between us. "Oh, I didn't know."

I stepped in before it was too late. "Yeah, we were talking about coffee habits with Jace last night. That's how he knows." I gave her a nervous smile. She gave one back.

"Of course." She looked at me above the newspaper. Jace looked at the plate full of pancakes and then at my plate. He gave me a nod and left the room. Being alone with Maryse felt intimidating so I focused on my cereal.

"Since the boys aren't here I was thinking taking you at a bridal shop in town to look for a dress. If you haven't found one already of course." Her words were carefully spoken. I could see she wanted to take me there even though her face said otherwise.

"What about Jace?"

"Will take him with us. We want a male's perspective don't we?"

"But… but he might-"

"Alec told me you haven't found a dress and I know that this is usually what mothers and daughters do and since your mother has passed away I thought I could fill in the spot. For the experience I mean." She said sifting in her chair. It made her uncomfortable to talk about it so I made it easy for her.

"I would love to." I said with a smile on my face that she returned. I was planning to politely decline her offer to put us both out of trouble but seeing her like that, toying with the paper I couldn't say no. She didn't have a daughter so I guess I was filling that spot as well she filled my mother's spot. But taking Jace with us wasn't something I would let it happen.

"You know, I don't think Jace would like to come. I mean… he'll be all bored and all."

"Nonsense. He'll love it. You know, when he was little he always begged me for a little sister. He said he wanted a little sister so he could be her hero." She laughed. "Instead he got Alec. So you see, he'll be excited in participating. It'll give him time to learn his new sister," she smiled gently, "and my new daughter."

Oh, boy.


	11. Falling

**The Choice**

_Chapter 10_

**Falling**

Trying to convince Maryse not to let Jace come with us didn't work. So I kind of faked a little dizziness and went out to get some fresh air. That would buy me a couple of hours before she comes up with the idea again.

I sat outside on the small deck and ran my hands through my hair. I wanted to turn back to my apartment and lock myself in it.

I sat up and walked down the yard towards the tress. I needed to walk; my body was too fixed up to stay in one position so I walked without knowing where I went. I remembered the little pond I saw through my bedroom's window and tried to find the right direction to it. After walking a couple of minutes I found it.

The place was so beautiful. The close lined trees led to a small clearing with the pond just in the middle of it. The sun was reflected on its water giving away playful reflections of myself, as I sat near the water. Someone had placed a tiny deck on one side of it and I went and sat there, my feet barely touching the water.

The cold water cleared my head and for a bit I forgot about it all. The marriage I wasn't so confident about, the mistake called Jace, my feelings about that mistake which wouldn't came to light and of course my wedding which was fast approaching. I inhaled deep taking everything around me; and forcing myself to forget, pretending I lived another life; a life that constituted of waking up every morning and admiring all of this.

"I come here to forget." Jace said and sat next to me, a few inches separating our bodies. We were both staring ahead of us. "It helps me clear my mind."

"What do you want to forget?" I asked him well aware what he was going to tell me. I kept staring in frond of me when I felt him turn and stare at me. After a while he shrugged.

"Don't know yet." He said his voice a whisper. I turned to look at him. "I shouldn't have said those things last night but I was mad. That wasn't a reason to act like that though." He lowered his head. "You were right."

"About what?"

"That you tried to tell me. I just didn't want to see it." I stared at him as the sunlight fell softly on his hair and face and wondered why this felt right. Being with him like this felt right while if you took a step back and cleared you head, it was bad. Really bad.

I looked away and neither of us said anything else. We were each lost in our own thoughts.

"What are we going to do?" I asked him. His forehead creased.

"What are _we_ going to do?" he laughed. "Oh, no this is all on you." He said and I wanted to erase his pretty smirk. He started to get up.

"All me! Wait a minute!" He turned on his heels and started walking. "Where are you going?" I followed him. "He is still your brother!" I reached for him only to see him smiling at something. I looked ahead of him and saw a huge black mass moving toward us.

"A wolf!" I chocked and stepped a few steps behind. I had read somewhere that when you face a wolf the best thing to do is not to run. So I stayed put and hoped Jace wasn't stupid

Jace though didn't seem afraid or even aware of the wolf heading towards him and instead of trying to avoid it he jumped into the wolf's path and waited for it to jump into his arms. I blinked.

"Do you know it?" I asked him avoiding getting close to it.

"Who? Martin?" He said and nodded with his head towards it. Now that I could take a better look of it, it kind of reminded me a dog, a mix between a dog and a wolf to be precise.

"He looks like a wolf." I said and dared a couple of steps closer to him. The dog bared its teeth at me and I stepped back. "He doesn't like me."

"It's a she." He said and stood up and started pulling the dog toward me.

"What are you doing? Keep that thing back. It'll probably try to eat me." I said stepping backwards as the dog kept barging at me.

"Relax. She just doesn't know you yet. Give her some time." He said and kneeled next to the dog. He leaned in and whispered something in her ear and all the time he kept staring at me barely holding his amusement off his lips. I wanted to kiss that off his lips.

He stood up and along with the dog he came to me and let the dog sniff me a couple of times and left running away from us. "Great, now I smell bad to her as well." I said calming down my heart rate.

"She likes you. She doesn't believe you could be a threat towards me." I raised my eyebrows at him. "Or else she would still be here barking your ears off. But other than that she doesn't bite." He walked away. "Most times," he said after a while. I looked around and hurried after him. You never knew when that black beast would come out to play…. or chew something.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

"Trying to find Martin of course."

"Where did she come from anyway? I didn't see her at the house last night."

"We forgot about it. She usually stays at the back of the house. My dad has built her a place. She probably wasn't home last night."

"She just takes off? What if she get lost or something?"

He shrugged. "It rarely happens. She knows her way around. There aren't any houses for miles around and she knows that this is the only place that she'll get food. Although getting feed by Maryse isn't exactly what she likes."

"She isn't the only one." I whispered to myself.

"What did you say?" he asked and opened us a way through some bushes.

"Do you know where we're going?"

He smirked. "I know my way around." He said and leaned towards me, his hot breath on my cheek as he talked softly into my ear. "You should be more careful though," he said softly into my ear, "don't move." I couldn't move even if I wanted to. His even breaths on my cheek and neck made my heart accelerate in ways I didn't know was possible. My body stood still and awaited his next move.

"There is a bee on your shoulder, don't move. I'll try to fly it away."

Cold sweat run then through my body at the mention of a bee. I never liked those little bugs especially the ones that had wings. I got chills just by thinking of them and now I had one on me. "WHAT! Take it off now!" I said and tried to shake the bee off my shoulder.

"Wait!" he said and grabbed my shoulders to steady me and with a flash of his hand he squished the bee out of me. He let me go.

"That was disgusting," I said as I moved around myself shaking my chills out. "I can't believe you just did that." I glared at him. He just stood there smiling and I wanted to delete that smile off his lips preferably with a punch. I curled my hand in a little fist.

"Come on," he took my hand in his and my hand instantly relaxed. He called out for Martin.

"By the name of your dog I would think it's a he not a she."

"That was what we all thought but after a visit to the vet it turned out to be a female. You would think that would make my mother like her more. She might even have hated her more," he laughed it off as if he remembered a long lost memory.

We reached a big tree with what looked like to be a small wooden house on it. Martin was patiently waiting under it her tale going crazy.

"A tree-house?" I said and looked up. I had never seen one of those up close before.

"Our mother's gift to Alec and me." He said gesturing to it. "I think she mostly had this build so would stop messing around the house." He rubbed his chin. "I think it was after Alec destroyed the big porcelain vase."

"I can only imagine what happened when Maryse found out." I said and went to climb up the tree-house.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going? There is a no-girls police for this place." He said serious but I could see the glim in his eyes.

"Stop me if you can," I said halfway up the stairs. A few more and I would have reached the top.

"Hey! That's not fair!" He shouted from below. "I have Martin to carry and she's heavy." Martin barged then and bared her teeth at him. "What?" he turned to her, "It's the truth after all. All that fur is weighting you down," he added and petted her. She seemed satisfied with him.

I had already reached the tree-house and now I was sitting my feet dangling over as he reached me.

"I haven't been up here since I was 10."

"That was the time you decided that kids' toys weren't good enough for you?" I said smiling playful to him.

"No, my then my girlfriend just didn't appreciate getting up here while wearing a skirt." He reached behind me and opened the door to what it seemed as the inside of the tree-house.

He stretched and tried to fit through the narrow little door barely getting through it. I followed him. The place wasn't big but it was enough for both of us to sit there without knocking our heads against the roof. There were childlike drawings along the wall and a couple of pictures of two cute little boys. They were either playing smiling at a back yard or crying; but through their teary little eyes you could their happiness.

"You are blond." I said looking at the pictures again. The boys there were nothing alike. Alec was black haired and had the same features, as his mother while Jace was total opposite of them. He was all bright and shiny.

"Last time I checked in the mirror." Jace said and looked at me as I might have a serious mind illness.

"No, I mean I thought you died you hair. The rest of your family has dark colour hair while you are blond." That sounded close to an accusation.

"Grandpa's genes." He shrugged. "Hey, look at this." He went to his right and tugged at something on the wall. All this time the little light that we had was coming from the tiny door we crawled in. Now the sun was coming from above us and I raised my head to find that the roof was cracking an opening. Jace kept pulling a rope and with each pull the opening grew bigger until the whole roof was open and the sun came blasting in showering us with it's warmth light.

"This must be the coolest tree-house ever!" I said widely smiling at him. I couldn't even imagine how his childhood must have been. Form the broad smile on his lips I could easily say that it was filled with many happy moments.

"Every single girl that I brought up here said the exact same thing."

"How many have you brought up here?" I said trying to hide my irritation but failing. I looked around.

He smiled. "Not many. Not many, that are worth remembering at least." His voice held something because it made me turn and get lost into those fire-blazing eyes. The space was tight and it made us sit very close, not that close to touch and I wished the space was smaller so all we have to do to fit between these walls was to touch each other.

I reached with my hand and stroke his cheek, slowly testing his reaction. His eyes widened but didn't make a move to get away from me. He just stood there waiting. Waiting for me. My hand moved toward his jawline, my hand over the places I wished I had the chance to touch again, to smell, to kiss; memories from that night. Each moment I spent with him I realized that I wanted to spend more time with him. I tried to keep it out of my mind but as I was standing there in front of him, touching him my heart ached and I couldn't stop myself form kissing him again.

He was stiff against my lips and my heart hit bottom. Maybe what I was thinking, feeling was just a fantasy I had created; wishing he would return the same feelings towards me. But then he reached up with his hand and placed it behind my neck bringing me closer to him. At first he was hesitant and then I could feel him making up his mind. He was struggling too but this felt so good but we weren't both sure of it. But as the kiss continued our fears and worries vanished as easily as the kiss continued on. We were lost in each other and we didn't plan on getting back.

But barking from below brought us back to reality and as I looked into his eyes I wished I wouldn't have seen in his eyes the regret I was now feeling.

"Come on," he said and got out. "Maryse will be looking for us."


	12. The Melody

The Choice

Chapter 11

The Melody

We walked in silence back to the house avoiding looking at each other. Martin was following, her tale high up moving here and there, happily hanging her tongue outside her mouth. I scratched my arms turning them red in the process. I had to distract myself to get rid of the sickening feeling I had. I had seen it clearly in his eyes. If he could he would have taken it back. He would have taken everything back if he had the choice.

In the few moments that I got the chance to get close to him again only one thing passed my mind. _If I had a wish…_ I would wish everything to be different. Jace was something I didn't expect I needed but as I spend more time with him I realized I might need him a little bit more than I expected. _But you love Alec_, my mind kept telling me clouding my thoughts. _Jace… Alec… brothers… wrong…_

I'm trying hard to tell myself that whatever I feel for Jace isn't real. The pull he has on me is just in my mind; that when my heart skips a beat on the sound of his name; it's from the prospect of anyone finding out about him and me. When I feel myself melting under his gaze, is from the fear I have of him telling Alec. I'm trying but it isn't enough. I need him to tell me. I need him to tell me it's in my mind. I need him to tell me that he doesn't… love me.

"Say it." I said glaring at him the words out of my mouth before I could register them. "Just say it to get it over with so you don't have to pretend anymore."

"Pretend what?" he said without slowing, and kept walking ahead of me.

"I saw it."

"Saw what?" his voice sounding irritated.

"Eyes never lie." He stopped and turned to me. He nodded for me to go on.

"Supposedly," he said his lips in a tight line.

"You can stop this for both our sakes. You didn't have to kiss me back there just because I wanted to. You can stop pretending anymore. There is no-"

"You thought I faked that?" his face was a mask of disbelieve. "You think I like lying to my only brother? Look him in the eyes and lie to him?" his voice got higher. "That I have to figure out a way to stop carrying for who my brother marries? To tell myself that no matter what, my brother is the one that is going to marry you? That's what I have to stop pretending?" He dropped his face and stared elsewhere. He began his voice low avoiding my eyes, "because if eyes tell the truth then you clearly don't see it." He spun around and headed towards the house that now was visible from a couple of meters away. Then with a sudden movement he was right in front of me his face wearing a hard expression.

"How do you stand it?"

"Excuse me?" I said still dazed form what he had just said.

"How can you kiss him and tell him you love him after knowing what have you done? How?"

I opened my mouth to answer but nothing came out of it. I had no answer for him when I for myself didn't have the answer. The guilt was killing me each time and now it was even worse. I wasn't just lying to Alec I was also deceiving his family. When I raised my eyes to his I found the wind playing games with the leaves. In the distance I heard a door being slammed hard.

Maryse was nice enough not to ask questions when I came back to the house but after a while she came into the library where I had found a hide and tried to stir up a conversation with me. I nodded at whatever she said to me and in the end I found myself agreeing going dress shopping together. Unfortunately that meant also taking Jace with us. Why didn't he go to that stupid club with his father? And why hadn't Alec called me all day?

Jace drove with his mother on the passenger sit and me at the back. Maryse kept babbling about all the things we have to take account of my wedding dress but I couldn't have cared less. Jace didn't speak to me at all during the ride there, which was perfectly fine with me. I was thinking what he said and what those words might mean. I wanted those walls in my mind to rise up again and no matter what I did it didn't change the fact that he had said those things. I couldn't pretend anymore. I was the one pretending not him. He was clear from the first moment while I was lying from the first moment I met him. They say you can only love one person with your whole heart but they don't tell you how that feels; and I started to wonder if you could give your heart to more than one person. I wasn't sure just yet if I loved Jace. I definitely had strong feelings about him and I loved his brother Alec but it wasn't possible to love them both, was it?

Once we reached the shop Jace excused himself against his mother wishes and left. He had some things to take care of, he told her. Instant relief washed me, and a sense of panic threated to overtake me but I managed to tame it. The lady at the store told us to have a sit and we waited for her to come back with a couple pictures of dresses. Maryse and her talked about what would look good on me and what style I should try on while I barely had the chance to speak up. In the end the lovely blonde lady, whose name was Marian, took me inside of one of the dressing rooms and helped in one of the handful of dresses Maryse had picked for me.

I could barely move my legs from all the skirts underneath. There must've been at least ten. The poufy dress made me look like a big upside-down lollipop. We tried the same style but lighter.

"How does this fit my dear? It looks gorgeous on you." Marian said pulling tighter at the corset at my back. I took a deep breath and she managed to close the zip.

"I can breath," I said after releasing the breath I was holding. The dress had a tight bodice simple patterns engraved on, random lines that if you looked closely you could see the drawings of small circles interrupted by triangles and squares. I hadn't seen anything like it before. The skirt was lighter and I was able to walk through the little space the dressing room provided without stumbling on it.

"It feels… good." I said not quite sure of it yet. I looked at the mirror. The dress was strapless and my bare pale arms were visible under the fluorescent lights.

"It looks beautiful but is has to be comfortable if you want to enjoy your wedding while wearing it. Believe me, I had my share of it." She moved form behind and stood beside the mirror. "Can you imagine yourself getting married in this dress?"

I wanted to tell her that I haven't imagined at all getting married, not until this very moment where I tried to picture Alec next to me but all I could see was those damn gold locks. I looked away and hug myself.

"We can cover your arms if you like with a nice white jacket, shorts of. Here lets go outside to see what Maryse has to say about it and I'll go grab it for you." I stepped outside and walked towards the mirror. It was bigger and I could see myself from more angles than before. I really noticed the dress this time and now it wasn't bad. But it wasn't perfect either. It didn't have the finality to it. Maryse hadn't spoke since I came out and my eyes searched for her through the mirror waiting to see her horrified face but instead I found Jace sitting on one of those pink armchairs his hand over his mouth half covering half supporting his head on it. His eyes captured me again and what they conveyed was enough to leave me breathless. At last I broke away. I looked at myself again and suddenly I was self-conscious. I straightened my skirt and tried to stand better in front of the mirror.

Jace woke up behind me and took my hands away form my skirt. "You look beautiful," he whispered to my left ear. "Stop doubting yourself." He squeezed my hand once and let it go and backed away just in time when Maryse and Marian came back with some wrappers and jackets.

"Yes, I know, why would someone-" Maryse was saying and she stopped and her eyes widened as she took sight of me. "Clary! You're stunning! That dress is just magnificent. You look absolutely stunning." She came and walked around me her eyes never leaving the dress and my body. "Gorgeous really. Jace, what do you think? Isn't she stunning?" She talked to him but without paying much attention to him. She didn't notice how he stumbled with his words finally setting to a nod towards her. Maryse kept staring me until finally she broke her gaze away. "Alec is going to love this dress," Maryse said and I dared to look at Jace who now was walking outside.

Even though Maryse was sold at that dress and insisted on how perfectly it was for me I gave in and decided that this was my dress. When I asked for the price Maryse said it was already settled; a welcoming present from her and Robert for entering their family. I didn't see Jace for the rest of the night after the ride home. His eyes never left the road to find mine as they did before.

Alec came back late in the afternoon and he surprised me when I saw him holding a bouquet of flowers.

"Ah, flowers! Alec you shouldn't have." I said and went to grab them. Alec hid them behind his back.

"Who said it's for you?" he said and smirked. I eyed him carefully.

"Are you sure Alec? Because if I remember well," I said and whispered to him, "you left me alone with your family. Well the rest of your family and didn't call me." I tried to look angry.

"Come on. I'm sure you found something entertaining to do while I was gone," he lifted his eyebrows.

I swallowed. "Like what?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. My mother told me Jace showed you around. I hope he wasn't a pain." He came closer and gave me a kiss. "They are for you," he said giving me the flowers.

"You," I started smiling and he placed his hand on my waist and bent to kiss me. Jace walked inside the room and I withdrew from his embrace and kiss. He looked at me confused but then he saw Jace. He walked in the kitchen to grab some water and left without saying a word unless the glare he gave me counted as something.

"What's wrong with him?" Alec said and went to grab me again but I walked away form him.

I shrugged. "No idea." I hated myself.

* * *

I was walking towards my room when I heard it, the soft melody of the piano. The notes sipping through my body and holding me there for what it seemed like ages. I found myself on the stairs leading to the attic. I made sure my steps were silent. Everyone had gone to bed hours ago. I wondered who was up this late playing the piano.

The door was half closed and I dared to come closer. The music came from inside. I wondered if I Alec had mentioned a piano in the house. The melody changed now to something quick and angry as the person hit the notes but the in an instant it changed again and the soft melody I had heard earlier came and I found myself walking inside unaware of my actions.

The room was dark and the only light came from the low window where I could see the moon high in the sky. I looked for the beautiful disturbance around. Jace was sitting and playing the black shiny piano in the corner. I came closer to him and I sat down next to him when he abruptly stopped playing.

I looked at him and placed my hands on the soft keys of the piano trying to play the piece he was playing from memory. I failed miserably. He still had his eyes on me when he took my hands away from the piano. He showed me the right notes for the left hand part of the piece and together without saying a word to each other we played without speaking but we said so much to each other as we changed songs between us. Music was talking for us. He let me finish the piece and I felt myself absorbed into the music. The song slowed down until I hit the last note. For the first time it felt good playing the piano. I felt confident, determined. I smiled.

"What are you doing here?" Jace's raspy voice said.

"I heard you playing and… the music was…. I didn't know you played the piano." I said my initial hesitation going away.

"Yeah, I didn't know either." Our fingers were still on the keys and his were barely touching mine. With a gentle touch he stroke my fingers.

"I couldn't sleep," I said looking at our fingers still touching each other feeling all warm inside.

"Me either. It seems that way lately."

His voice must have held something because I turned to face him. "Jace."

"Clary." He smiled playful to me.

"I should go." I stood up.

He grabbed my hand. "No, please stay. I could use your company." He made room for me. "Play for me."

I sat down and placed my hands on the keyboards. It was so long since I really played. Playing with Jace a few moments ago came easy like I wasn't putting the effort in it. I tried. The first few notes came easy and I let myself smile. I kept the lazy tempo until I noticed Jace was gone from next to me. I found him on my left side a camera in front of his eyes.

"What are you doing there?" I whispered-hissed.

"What's it look like I'm doing? Taking a picture of you of course," he said not bothering to put the camera down.

"Jace give me that!"

"Why?" he said his cocky smile still on place.

"Because… because you're not allowed to." I said crossing my hands over my chest.

"By who?" he casually sat on one of the random chairs in the room looking through the lenses of his camera.

"By me. Now give it back." I extended my arm towards him and he drew his back. "Jace just erase the stupid pictures." He turned his camera away and looked at me.

"They aren't stupid." He stood up and went to leave not before coming next to me whispering, "nothing about you is stupid."


	13. Back to Reality  Part 1

The Choice

Chapter 12

Title: Back to Reality (Part 1)

* * *

"Jace! Come here!" I half whispered half yelled. He stood up and left the room without looking back at me, his camera hanging around his slim neck. I followed him down the stairs trying to be quiet as possible. The old staircase creaked under my weight. Jace didn't seem to have the same problem. He knew his way around.

I paused at the bottom of the stairs looking for signs of disturbance. None of the bedroom doors opened neither the lights came on. That was good. I sighed. I whipped my head around to find Jace gone and the back door in the kitchen open just slightly. I went after him.

I knew it was stupid going after him in the middle of the night with the possibility of being caught by Alec or even worse by his mother, but I couldn't help myself, and I was tired of having to feel guilty all the time. I wanted to be free to feel without having to look behind me for the consequences, to chose and do whatever I wanted. So I followed him.

We walked past the back yard and entered the line of trees, my vision darkening. "Jace? Where are you going?"

He flashed me a huge grin. "You'll see." And I really did.

Soon enough we ended up on the little pond I had come earlier in the morning that day. I had thought then that it was beautiful but now it was even more. It was breathtaking.

The surface of the water looked like liquid silver under the moon and for a moment I though it would turn solid just by how calm the water was. Jace stopped a couple of feet before the water and picked up his camera. I'd just noticed that he was barefoot wearing a pair of washout jeans and a white shirt while I was still with my pajamas-shorts. Thankfully I was wearing a robe because it was chilly outside.

"You know people just download photos from the Internet." I said to him.

"Yeah, but nothing compares with the real thing." He said his back facing me. Then he turned to me, his camera high.

"Don't you dare take-" I didn't have the chance to finish as he started taking some pictures of me. My cheeks got hot thinking of how I looked with the white robe hanging below my knees and hair perfect for any bird to nest in there. I aimed and charged toward him hoping what I'd seen about football on TV was enough for me to tackle him.

With a yelp he was down with me on top of him. I didn't allow myself to feel victorious since I hadn't taken the camera from him yet. "I could get used to that," he flashed me one of his arrogant smiles. My hands turned into fists. It was brutal.

We fought and laughed, and he even pulled my hair like any five year old would do and I like a nice lady that I am, pulled at his ears until the camera slipped from his hands. I smiled and looked at him all smugly.

My victory was sort though. I hadn't realized that it was still looped around his neck and as I went to get up I was pulled down on top of him, again.

"Damn it Jace! I don't want you taking my pictures." I said giving up and getting off him. I tried to look annoyed by the whole thing but the truth was I didn't mind.

He brushed himself laughing taking the camera and placing on a branch. There was no way I could reach it. "You really need to work your fists. Unless you haven't shown me everything." He winked at me. I shoved him down.

But then it happened. Jace tripped and fell into the pond, the water splashing on my face.

"Jace! Are you all right? I'm so sorry." I went near him watching my step. The last thing I wanted was to get myself into the water.

He glared at me. "Clary." His voice filled with angry.

"At least your camera is out of the water." I said with my small voice pointing at the branch.

He swam closer. "Come here," his voice a low growl.

I shook my head. "No way. You're going to pull me inside. Nope. No way."

He titled his head. "Clary," his voice calm now. "I'm not ten anymore. Come help me up. I think I'm stuck.

I went to the dock. "I think it's better if you come this side." I pointed to the other side of the dock where a robe led into the water. "You can start pulling yourself using the rope and I'll help you up." He did what I told him to.

He used the robe and barely lifted himself when I grabbed his hand and he gave me a hard pull, founding myself the next minute soaking wet glaring at Jace who was laughing so hard he had to support himself on the wood next to him.

Now it was my time to glare at him. "You are definitely ten."

After calming down a bit he managed to talk. "I just couldn't resist. Besides," he gave me a steady stare, "you're the one who started it."

My eyes bulged. "That was an accident!" Of course I knew he meant the struggle before for the camera.

"I guess we're equal now." I finally said swimming towards the rope. With any luck I won't catch a cold.

"Not yet," the tone in his voice made me turn. He was so close to me that I could sketch every little detail of his face and for the first time I noticed how easily my hand went and stroke his face, every time as if under a spell.

He bent down as to kiss me and I had just closed my eyes lips parted when he pushed me aside and grabbed the rope. "Now we are." He gave me a sad smile and left towards the house.

I just stood there in the water my mouth still hanging open looking after him. _What the hell was that?_ Of course I knew what it was. He just said that this is over between us in his own words. I should be happy about this. Right? That was what I wanted right? But something tugged at me and emptied my insides. I should fill relieved I should…

I got out of the water and walked toward him my eyes never leaving him. If he heard me he didn't slow down or stop for me so I grabbed his arm and yanked him at me. His eyes held surprise.

"Clary," his husky voice said and he made a move to stop me.

I shook my head. I couldn't speak because if I did I wouldn't be able to do this. I wanted to show him that I cared about him. I did. I just didn't know what to do about this whole situation.

I didn't want to think. I wanted to jump.


	14. Back to Reality  Part 2

**The Choice**

**Chapter 13 Back to Reality Part 2**  
**Song I wrote to: Thousand Years by Christina Perri**

Monday afternoon found me sitting in my office waiting for the five minutes to pass that would mean I could get out of this hole. Looking outside the window I saw the heavy rain and sighed. I had forgotten my umbrella… again. I hadn't seen Jace since that weekend at his parent's house. Two weeks had passed and I hadn't heard from or seen him.

I had talked with Maia on the other hand and she had mentioned that she and Jace were going to be out of town for a week or so for a photo-shoot. That relaxed me a little because that meant I wouldn't have to face him. It was hard enough as it was.

_ He was walking away from me when I ran turning him towards me and planting a kiss on his lips. He was astonished to say the least but he relaxed beneath my hands and he let the kiss go on. Just thinking it made me feel like a teenager again. _

_ "What was that?" he said raising his left eyebrow._

_ "That is what I want….but", I said my eyes serious, "but I cant have."_

I shook my head. I had come back from picking my wedding dress. I felt my palms getting sweaty. My wedding was fast approaching. I had less than a month to say goodbye to my last name but mostly I had less than a month to say goodbye to Jace. I had heard from Maryse that he was going somewhere to Europe after the wedding for his job and he wouldn't be back for at least 6 months. That was a long time, which I guess was good. It would help both of us to clear our head and came back to reality.

The next day Alec and me went to order our wedding cake. We had a cake testing but my mind just wasn't in it as Alec's was. I could see him smiling excited about it. It made me smile but it didn't' reach my eyes. I noticed Alec the way he spoke with the woman helping us choose the cake. I noticed his shaved jaw. His lips that had drawn me in the first time I saw him. He was wearing his blue sweater today the one I gave to him last Christmas. It matched perfectly with his eyes. Eyes that were so happy right now.

"Which one do you think Clary? I liked the coconut one," he said taking a small bite from it again.

"Mmm… let me see," I said and took a bite too. "It's ok but I like the chocolate. I think I taste alcohol in it."

"Yes," the old lady said. "There is rum in it but we can remove the rum if you don't like it or combine the chocolate with any of the other flavours.

"No, I like it this way actually. Since Alec like the coconut could we combine the flavours? Would that taste good?" I asked her.

"Or we could make the layers of the cake different. Since we are having four layers of cake we could do two of each," Alec said his hand on his jaw.

"That's better because I am not really fond of coconut," I said and we later placed the order. The only thing left was to count the actual number of guests that were coming and we made the chart sitting.

Later that day Maia emailed me talking all about the stuff they have been doing the past week. Apparently things have been going extremely well and they would return sooner than planned. But that wasn't what gave me a jolt of guilt. It was her ending sentence. _"So… why is Jace so depressed? Something happened?"_

The next few days passed so quickly I had to stop and wonder what the hell was I doing. Alec started commenting that my mind seemed to wonder elsewhere and I couldn't afford that.

I was waiting Alec Friday night to come home from work. He promised me to go to the movies since it's been a long time since the last time we went and it was the movie I was dying to see. So I got ready and lay on the couch waiting for him. It was so quiet in the apartment that it made me jump up and turn on the tv. I heard a knock on door afterwards and run to open it half wondering if Alec had forgotten his keys. But what I saw in front of me surprised me.

"Jace?" I said not believing my eyes. He was supposed to be out of town. Surely they couldn't have been done _that_ soon.

He was leaning in, his right arm resting on the doorframe. He seemed to take a big breath before raising his eyes to meet mine. "Clary," his voice was so low and intimate that it made me blush a tiny bit.

"Jace if you need Alec he isn't here yet. He is on-" He shook his head.

"I don't need him, I need you," he said and stepped in the apartment. I closed the door behind me more because I didn't know what else to do. His tone was very serious.

He turned and didn't waste a moment. He looked me hard and I could see shadows in his eyes. He came closer and placed his hands on either side of my face. He closed his eyes and touched his forehead on mine. My heart was racing this much only by this small connection our skins had, yet I felt even more. "Jace," I said my voice a warning.

He pulled back but didn't take his hands away. "These past days I haven't stopped thinking of you. I told myself that loving you is wrong in so many levels but my head doesn't seem to get it." Wait, did he just say love? Apparently I was overhearing things.

He shook his head as this would help get the words out. "I tried to convince myself, I really did, but nothing worked. Nothing. I even tried dating a couple of girls but the only thing I could think was that the girl in front of me wasn't you and that made me angry. Angry that Alec has you and not me. Then I became even angrier because he is my brother."

He signed and finally opened his eyes. I was frozen not only from his blazing gaze but also from his daring words. He was clearly admitting his feelings right now, right here in the middle of my apartment. I was so happy beyond words but then the real situation sank in and my happy feelings turned into despair. Why was he saying these things? Why was he here? Now of all times. It would only hurt him even more later on. I knew the pain. It wasn't easy to bear with it. I have been in pain since that weekend. It was something I hated but we both had to bare it.

He took another deep breath his breath tickling my nose. He was very close. Close enough to kiss him if I moved an inch forward.

"But I love you," his voice low almost soothing, "and I wont give up on you. I am on the point that I know that this will hurt Alec and possibly make him hate me but I don't mind as long as I have you by my side. So Clary don't marry him. Cancel the wedding and come to me." His lips touched mine. "Be with me," he whispered, "love me," and he kissed me so softly and gently I thought I would break. I hadn't realized the tears running down my cheeks until Jace started kissing them away softly calling my name as if chanting.

I had never really wished for anything or really asked God of something but at that moment I put my prayers to anyone or anything that was out there to make this moment last forever.

But as all good things have an ending at some point, I found ours came rather quickly.

The door started rattling and a very worried Isabelle came in. "Clary! We need to-" she stopped half-in the apartment and her worried face turned into shock and disbelief. She closed her eyes and shook her head, which gave Jace and me the time to put some distance between us.

"Alec," she started talking again avoiding my gaze. "He got into an accident. They are talking him to the hospital as we speak." Only then did she look at me. "I think it's serious," her eyes sorrowful.

I turned to Jace not quite registering what Isabelle was telling me. I could see his eyes now, clear and panicked which made me panic too. Alec had an accident and was probably dying.


	15. Consequences

The Choice

Chapter 14: Consequences

Passing back and forth wasn't helping with my nerves. The dim lights of the hallway, the squeaky noise of shoes and the different faces flashing before my eyes made me dizzy. Alec had been in surgery for the past two hours, while I have been making a hole on the floor while I waited for a tiny bit of information from the doctors. Nobody would come to update us and nurses kept avoiding us and looking at us with concern us, which made my stomach tight all the more.

He was terrible injured. Three of his ribs were broken, one of his kidneys damaged beyond repair and there was a huge gash at the back of his head. He had lost a lot of blood by the time he made to the hospital that they thought he was a lost case.

Looking around me I bit my thumb. The room had that awful pale grey on its walls making you depressed on top of everything else and those blue chairs that promised comfort but hadn't the chance to use them yet. Just hurry, I thought to myself. I need some information, any information. Even an ok from a doctor would be fine; something to calm my panicked heart.

A few seats across from me Isabelle was sitting in one of those blue chairs with a shocked Simon next to her. Simon was there when the accident happened. They had managed to come across each other while Alec was getting ready to leave his office. Many companies share his building and one of those happens to be Simon's publisher. Alec agreed to give him a ride home. Alec was pulling up his car from the parking lot when an suv took a sharp turn and smashed into Alec's car. The car was so badly dented they could not get Alec out of the car. It took them over an hour to get him out which by that time he had lost a considerate amount of blood.

Both Simon and Isabelle had tried to call me but I had forgotten that my phone was in silence so that led to Isabelle running into us.

I hadn't really thought if Isabelle actually saw us or not. The look on her face did tell me that but my head hurt so much I didn't want to think about that and what would that mean. I just hoped she wouldn't mention it, not now at least. All that mattered now was for Alec to survive.

In those two long hours in the waiting room, we hadn't exchanged a word. We all sat there waiting. Even Jace sat in a corner with his head in his palms trying to calm his raging breath. He wasn't patient and you could tell by how rude his voice of tone was, when trying to get something out of the nurses. He eventually stormed out of the room at some point without saying anything. He still hadn't returned.

I sighed. How was Alec doing? I rubbed my temples and finally sat down. My legs had gone numb with all the passing back and forth. The chairs were not confortable at all. Across from me Isabelle stirred her head up. She looked like she wanted to tell me something, her face unreadable. She opened her mouth but changed her mind and turned to Simon. I sighed again.

"You know, everything will be fine," Isabelle almost whispered her first words to me, after coming to the hospital. "Soon there is bound to be some information." I didn't have the will to say anything at this point so I just nodded at her and took a look at my watch. Another thirty minutes had passed. That made for a total of two and a half hours since Alec was in there.

Just then a doctor walked through the door. I knew it was about Alec. We were the only ones in this room.

"Alec Lightwood?" he called. I jumped at my feet and almost fell as I rushed at the doctor. He smiled.

"Alec has avoided the danger. It will probably take another half an hour to an hour before we move him to his room. But for the most part he is doing well. He lost one of his kidneys and a lot of blood. We managed to close the wound on his head. Fortunately it was just a small would, so he just needed a few stiches there. As I said we are moving him to his room shortly and I expect you'll be able to see him shortly after that." He nodded and left as quickly as he came.

I just stood there my mind trying to comprehend what he just said. I didn't need to ask him anything. He had answered everything I needed to know and a huge weight lifted out of my chest. I sat down smiling my body finally relaxing, and my eyelids started to close. I didn't realize how tired I was. I let myself drift into sleep. I could still hear Isabelle and Simon's happy voices but didn't have the strength to open my eyes. Alec was safe that's what mattered.

* * *

I woke up to the smell of coffee. Somebody was whispering. I looked around me and realized Isabelle and Simon were gone. Instead Jace sat a few seats over with a phone in his hand. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the dingy clock on the wall. It was close to midnight and the buzz of the hospital had died down. I stretched my back and Jace looked over and pointed to the coffee sitting on the chair next to me. I grabbed it and let it warm my hands. Once he was done with his phone call he came and sat next to me.

Suddenly I felt uncomfortable. "Where are Isabelle and Simon? Alec? How is he?" I said without looking at him.

He ran his hand through his messy hair and closed his eyes. He looked exhausted. "They left. After the doctor verified that Alec was in a good state they left. They didn't want to tire Alec. Besides he woke up for a few minutes and then fell asleep again. The doctors suggested to come back tomorrow to see him." He looked at the clock. "It's only been about an hour since they left. We better leave too."

I shot up from my chair. "But I want to see him! I bet he is waiting for us."

"Relax Clary. I spoke to him already during the brief moment he managed to open his eyes. He is exhausted, he couldn't tell who I was. He is taking too many painkillers at the moment. He is not going to able to wake up anytime soon. We better go home. We are both tired. I promise I will bring you here first thing in the morning." I was too tired so I just nodded.

"Isabelle," I said slowly and sat down again. "Did she..."

"No, didn't mention anything." He rose up. "The only thing we have to worry about now is Alec. Let's focus on that, ok?" He gave me his hand. "Here, lets go," he said and finally looked me in the eyes. I grabbed his warm hand and let him lead the way.


End file.
